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/ 














THE ORIGIN OF 

Freemasonry and 
Knights Templar 



COMPILED BY 


John R. Bennett, P. E. C. 



“We can not understand the actual 
of a character or system without in 
some degree entering into its ideal.” 

























COPYRIGHT, 1907, BY 

JOHN R. BENNETT, P. E. C. 


MUSKEGON, MICH. 



Gift 

Mrs Edward N.Dingily 
Aug^,lSSl 


PRESS OF JOHNSON & HARDIN, CINCINNATI, O. 


to* 






DEDICATED 

TO ALL 

FREEMASONS 

AND 

THOSE WHO LOVE THEIR 

FELLOW- MEN. 









CONTENTS 


PAGE. 

Preface. ... 

Freemasonry .............. 1 

Ancient Mysteries. 3 

Egyptian Mysteries ............ 4 

Adonisian Mysteries. ...... 10 

Dionysian Mysteries. 12 

Eleusinian Mysteries . /. 14 

Mysteries of Mithras ............ 15 

Israelites. .... 18 

Jewish History. 33 

King Solomon’s Temple. 40 

The Exploration of Jerusalem. 43 

The Foundation of the Temple ...... 45 

Ancient Temples. ... 54 

Division of the Hebrew Nation..55 

Ancient to Modern. . . . 59 

Roman Colleges of Artificers ....... 59 

Building Corporations. 62 

Speculative Masonry.65 

Fraternity of Builders of Continental Europe . . 68 

Conclusion. .... 74 

Degrees of Freemasonry ...... .... 77 

Captivity. 82 

Termination of the Captivity . . . . 90 

Design of Freemasonry .......... 97 

Commandery, Knights Templar ....... 99 

Knight of the Red Cross. 100 

Knights Templar. 101 

The Cross . 102 

The Crescent. 109 

The Conflict. . 116 

Ancient Templars. 128 

Defense and Fall of Acre. 134 

Final Dissolution .. 138 

Knights Templar, Masonic ......... 140 

Knights of Malta. ..... 142 

Supplemental Encyclopaedia ....... 147 





























































































ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE. 

Frontispiece . . ............. 

Menepta. 18 

Exodus of Israel .. 24 

High Priest of Israel. 26 

The Tabernacle. 28 

Ark of the Covenant. 30 

Saul Anointed. 34 

The Temple of Solomon. .41 

Plan of Temple. 48 

Captive Jews Led into Babylonia ....... 86 

Babylon. 88 

Cyrus the Great. 91 

Capture of Babylon. 92 

Rebuilding Jerusalem. 95 

Jesus .. . . . 104 

The Prophet Mohammed .Ill 

Preaching the Crusade.119 

The First Crusade ............ 125 

Jerusalem . 127 

Battle Before Acre. 135 

Burning of Jaques de Molay ......... 139 











































































































































































HISTORICAL INDEX 


PAGE 

Aaron. 32 

Abraham or Abram.19, 102 

Acre .133 

Aholiab .26 

Amalekites. 25 

Ammonites.32 

Amorites.. . 32 

Antioch .124 

Arabia.32 

Arabia Deserta (see Arabia). 

Arabia Petraea (see Arabia). 

Arabia Felix (see Arabia). 


Aram-Naha-raim (see Mesopotamia). 


Ark of the Covenant. 30 

Athanasius.131 

Athelstane.64 

Bacchus (Gr. Dionysus).12 

Belshazzar.90 

Bethany.. . 107 

Bethlehem .35 

Birthright . 20 

Byblos.8 

Briton.61 

Caesarea.128 

Canaan.19 

Ceres.15 

Chaldeans (see Chaldea). 

Chaldea '.94 

Cyrus the Great.90 

Damascus .... -.94 

Darius, King of Persia.96 

Darius tlie Median.92 

Desert or Wilderness.31 

Desert of Kadish (see Supplement). 

Desert of Zin.. . 31 

Dionysus.12 

Edom (Gr. Idumea—see Edomites). 

Edomites . . . .. 32 


































HISTORICAL INDEX 


PAGE 

Egypt.18 

Fatimites.117 

Feasts (see Supplement). 

Feast of the Passover (see Supplement). 

Feast of the Pentecost (see Supplement). 

Feasts of the Sabbath (see Supplement). 

Feast of the Tabernacle.. . 107 

Gedaliah.85 

Gibeonites (see Gibeon). 

Gibeon.33 

Goshen (see Land of Goshen). 

Haran.19 

Hebrews.32 

Hebron.19 

Horus . ..9 

Holy Land (see Supplement). 

Ishmael (see Ishmaelites). 

Ishmaelites . ..109 

Jebusites.39 

Jericho.32 

Jerusalem.39 

Jethro. 23 

Jones, Inigo.. 65 

Joppa • • 41 

Joseph of Arimathea.107 

Kabbalah.97 

Kadesh-Barnea.31 

Kingdom of Judah.57 

Land of Canaan.19 

Land of Chaldeans (see Chaldea). 

Land of Goshen or Ramses.22 

Land of Hebrews (see Supplement). 

Land of Israel (see Supplement). 

Land of Judah (see Supplement). 

Land of Promise.19 

Land of Shinar (see Chaldea). 

Lot. 19 

Mesopotamia .19 

Middle Ages.15 

Midianites .21 

Moabites.32 

Monk.69 

Moses.32 

Mount Sinai (see Sinai). 

Nicodemus. 106 

































HISTORICAL INDEX 


PAGE 

Olympiad.15 

Padan-Aram (see Mesopotamia). 

Pagan. . . . 14 

Palestine.22 

Patron.,.70 

Pharaoh.19 

Phidias.■ . . 5 

Philistines . 33 

Phoenicia (see Phoenicians). 

Phoenicians.42 

Praxiteles.5 

Proserphine.l'l 

Queen of Sheba.43 

Rabbah.94 

Ramses .19 

Rephidim.25 

Riblah.86 

Rosetta Stone.9 

Samaritans.58 

Sanhedrin.106 

Seljooks or Seljuks Turks.117 

Shechem.19 

Shiloh.32 

Sidon.41 

Sinai .25 

Symbol .97 

Syria.11 

Tadmor . . 94 

Tamarisk.8 

Titan.12 

Typhon . 0 

Tyre .41 

Ur. 19 

Venus. 10 

Wilderness of Paran.31 

Wilderness or Desert.31 

Wren, Sir Christopher.66 

York (Lat. Eboracum). 64 

Ziklag.37 






























































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PREFACE. 


In preparing this work it has been my chief aim 
to give to the Masonic reader a brief, concise and 
interesting documentary compilation of the origin 
of Freemasonry and Knights Templar. The au¬ 
thorities consulted have been those of the world’s 
best historians and Masonic writers. In this brief 
history all historical facts, chronological dates, and 
documentary evidence have been taken from such 
works as Ridpath’s History of the World, Joseph 
Francis Michaud’s History of the Crusades, Eng¬ 
lish and American Encyclopedias, Biblical History, 
Masonic Encyclopedias by Albert G. Mackey, 
M. D., Robert Macoy, 33 °, and George Oliver, 
D. D., with many other works of renown, and ar¬ 
ranged in such form as to give to the reader the 
greatest amount of information in the least space, 
saving many hours of necessary labor in the re¬ 
search of a large number of volumes of dry and 
uninteresting reading, obtaining in the end only 
such results as one will find within this little volume. 

From my early experience in Masonic life, I 
learned that the character of the institution was 
elevated in every one’s opinion just in proportion 
to the amount of knowledge that he had acquired 
of its symbolism, philosophy and history. But that 
few men have the time, patience or inclination to 
give the close and attentive reading of the greater 
Masonic works to acquire the knowledge that every 
Mason should possess. 



PREFACE 


In view of this fact, and a strong desire on my 
part to acquire more light in Masonry, I was in¬ 
duced some twenty years ago to commence the com¬ 
pilation of this concise and interesting story of 
Freemasonry and Knights Templar. The years 
of toil that I have devoted to it have been a work of 
love, and in placing it before the Craft, it is with 
the hope of the further enlightenment and better¬ 
ment of mankind. 

Masonry being so interwoven with the early his¬ 
tory of the world, I have added a Supplemental En¬ 
cyclopedia, in which may be found brief accounts of 
many ancient countries and cities, together with 
short sketches of the life of the early tribes and of 
the ancient characters connected with Masonic his¬ 
tory. 

If the reader will carefully note all references, a 
much better understanding of the general subjects 
will be had. 

All Biblical chronological data will be found ac¬ 
cording to the computation of Archbishop Usher. 

The illustrations in this volume are taken from 
Ridpath’s History of the World, and are used by 
courtesy of the Jones Bros. Publishing Company, 
Cincinnati, Ohio. 

John R. Bennett. 

Muskegon, Mich., April 19 , 1906 . 

























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FREEMASONRY. 


The true history of Freemasonry is much in its 
character like the history of a nation. It has its 
historic and its prehistoric era. In its historic era, 
the institution can be regularly traced through 
various antecedent associations, similar in design 
and organization, to a comparatively remote period. 
Its connection with these associations can be ration¬ 
ally established by authentic documents and by 
other evidence which no historian would reject. 

For the prehistoric era—that which connects it 
with the mysteries of the pagan world, and with the 
old priests of Eleusis, of Samothrace, or of Syria— 
let us honestly say that we no longer treat of Free¬ 
masonry under its present organization, which we 
know did not exist in those days, but of a science 
peculiar, and peculiar only, to the Mysteries and to 
Freemasonry, a science which we may call Masonic 
symbolism, and which constituted the very heart- 
blood of the ancient and the modern institutions, 
and gave to them, while presenting a dissimilarity 
of form, an identity of spirit. In connecting and 
tracing the germ of Freemasonry in those prehis¬ 
toric days, although guided by no documents, and 
no authentic spoken or written narratives on which 
to rely, we find fossil thoughts embalmed in those 
ancient intellects precisely like the living ones which 
crop out in modern Masonry, and which, like the 
fossil shells and fishes of the old physical forma- 


i 



FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


tions of the earth, show by their resemblance to liv¬ 
ing specimens the graduated connection of the past 
with the present. 

Every human institution is subject to great and 
numerous variations; the different aspects under 
which they appear, and the principles by which they 
are governed, depend on the advance of civilization, 
the nature of the protecting government, and the 
peculiar habits and opinions of the members them¬ 
selves. Before learning was advanced, and when 
the art of printing was unknown, the discoveries 
in the arts and sciences must of necessity have been 
known to but few individuals. The pursuit of 
science was a secondary matter, and questions of 
philosophy were solely the prerogative of priest¬ 
craft. Agriculture was the grand pursuit of life. 
But architecture soon, in the natural order of 
things, arose as a science, and human skill was 
called into play. The triumph of mind over matter 
was the great feat of the first architects, who were 
also the first natural philosophers. There is no 
speculation in the statement that these formed 
themselves into an association for improvement 
at an early date; their architectural monuments 
preceding the authentic records of history, are with 
us to this day; and tradition informs us that this 
union of scientific men differed from the Free¬ 
masons of to-day in little more than in name. The 
arts and sciences were cultivated in Egypt and the 
adjacent countries in Asia, while all other nations 
were involved in ignorance. Of these sciences, 
astronomy, geometry and architecture took the 
first rank. 

Freemasonry not only presents the appearance 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


of a speculative science , 1 based on an operative art, 
but also very significantly exhibits itself as the sym¬ 
bolic expression of a religious idea. In other and 
plainer words, we see in it the important lesson of 
eternal life, taught by a legend which, whether true 
or false, is used in Masonry as a symbol and alle¬ 
gory. But whence came this legend? Did all lin¬ 
eal sources have this legend? The evidence is that 
they did. Not indeed the same legend; not the same 
personage as its hero; not the same details; but a 
legend with the same spirit and design; a legend 
funereal in character, celebrating death and resur¬ 
rection, solemnized in lamentations and terminating 
in joy. 

We can not correctly understand the history of 
the nations of antiquity, much less their theology, 
philosophy, science or ethics, without knowledge of 
their societies. Some of the grandest ideas, those 
which have had the greatest influence on human 
progress, were born amid mystic symbols.* 

Note. —The asterisk (*) refers to the Supplement for fur¬ 
ther information. 


Ancient Mysteries. 

Among the most important of the Ancient Mys¬ 
teries were the following: The Osiric in Egypt, 
the Adonisian in Syria, the Mithraic in Persia, the 
Cabiric in Thrace, the Druidical among the Celts, 
the Scandinavian among the Gothic, the Dionysian 
and Eleusinian in Greece. 

Each of the Pagan gods had, beside the public, 
a secret worship paid him, to which none were ad- 

1 See Speculative Masonry in Supplement. 

3 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


mitted but those who had been selected by prepara¬ 
tory ceremonies called initiation . This secret 
worship was termed the Mysteries. And this is 
supported by Strabo, who says “that it was com¬ 
mon, both to the Greeks and the barbarians, to per¬ 
form their religious ceremonies with the observance 
of a festival, and that they were sometimes cele¬ 
brated publicly and sometimes in mysterious pri¬ 
vacy.” The first of the Mysteries of which we have 
any account, Warburton says, “were those of Isis 
and Osiris in Egypt.” 


Egyptian Mysteries. 

'k Egypt has always been considered the birthplace 
of the Mysteries. It was there the ceremonies of 
initiation were first established. It was there that 
truth was first veiled in allegory, and the dogmas 
of religion were first imparted under symbolic 
forms. From Egypt this system of symbols was 
disseminated through Greece and Rome and other 
countries of Europe and Asia, giving origin, 
through many intermediate steps, to that mysteri¬ 
ous association which is now represented by the 
institution of Freemasonry. The favored rank of 
the Egyptian society was the priests. To them be¬ 
longed one-third of the lands of the kingdom. They 
were the holy order in whose hands rested the main¬ 
tenance of the national religious faith, the conduct 
of all the ceremonies in the temples, the direction 
of the sacrifices, the work of education and general 
culture of the Egyptian. The priesthoods of Egypt 
constituted a sacred caste, in whom the priestly 
functions were hereditary. They exercised also 
4 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 

an important part in the government of state, and 
the kings of Egypt were but the first subjects of its 
priests. 

The initiation into the Egyptian Mysteries was 
of all the systems practiced by the ancients the most 
severe and impressive. The system had been or¬ 
ganized for ages, and the priests, who alone were 
the teachers of the Mysteries, were educated almost 
from childhood for that purpose. That “learning of 
the Egyptians,” in which Moses is said to have been 
so skilled, was all imparted in those Mysteries. Over 
the entire history of the Land of the Pyramids a 
veil of mystery is drawn. Its history is a dream, 
not the promises of the future, but of achievements 
of the past. Here empire first placed her throne 
and swayed her scepter. Long before Greece and 
Rome and Assyria had been wrapped in their swad¬ 
dling clothes, Egypt was a man of war and a hero 
of victory. The stones that reared Athens in splen¬ 
dor, and spoke forth the beautiful conceptions of 
Phidias* and Praxiteles,* were unused in the quar¬ 
ries long after the Colossi of Thebes had grown 
old with years. While Abraham, the father 
of the faithful, wandered a nomad and lived in 
tents, a Pharaoh sat on the throne of Egypt, and, 
but a few years after, the Ishmaelitish merchants 
led their camels laden with spices, balm and myrrh, 
commodities only used by rich and cultivated peo¬ 
ples, from Gilead to the Nile. A few years from 
this and there were standing armies in Egypt, chari¬ 
ots of war, bodies of infantry, and, what is still more 
surprising, a large body of cavalry. It was in the 
Egyptian society of Isis and Osiris that this ancient 
and wonderful civilization had its origin. Here were 
5 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


fashioned and wrought out those ideas that subse¬ 
quently entered into the very life of the people. 

The two central figures of these Mysteries, as 
well as of Egyptian history, were Isis and Osiris. 
These, when stripped of their mystic garments and 
brought down to the level of humanity, appear to 
have been an early king (Osiris) and queen (Isis) 
of this country, who were at the same time brother 
and sister. These, by superior virtue and intelli¬ 
gence, won the admiration and confidence of these 
wild and untutored barbarians, led them out of their 
degraded state, and guided their feet into the path 
of civilization and empire. Under their direction 
the land of savage darkness became light, and full 
of joy. Isis taught the people to hold the plow and 
turn the furrow, and to make bread from the ripened 
grain. While doing this she made laws for home 
society, and restrained men from lawlessness and 
violence by their sanction. Osiris built Thebes, 
with its hundred gates; erected temples and altars, 
instituted the sacred rites, and appointed priests 
to have the oversight and care of the holy things. 

Having accomplished these things, and seeing 
their effect upon his own people, he resolved to raise 
a great army, and, leaving Isis as ruler, to go 
through all the world, “for he hoped he could civ¬ 
ilize men and take them off from their rude and 
beast-like course of life.” This he succeeded in do¬ 
ing, but shortly after his return he was slain by his 
brother Typhon. After his death Isis made a vow 
never to marry again, and spent her days in ruling 
justly over her subjects, “excelling all other princes 
in her acts of grace and bounty towards her own 
people, and therefore, after her death, she was num- 
6 



FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


bered among the gods, and as such had divine hon¬ 
ors and veneration, and was buried at Memphis, 
where they show her sepulchre at this day in the 
grove of Vulcan.” 

The sacred rites which Osiris is said to have in¬ 
stituted received many additions in course of time, 
and finally were divided into two degrees. These, 
as in their copy at Eleusis, Greece, were called the 
Great and Less, the former being the Mysteries of 
Osiris, the latter those of Isis, the latter being a 
preparation to the fuller revelation of the secrets 
contained in the former. 

In the Great Mystery was represented the alle¬ 
gorical history of Osiris, which the Egyptians re¬ 
garded as the most solemn mystery of their relig¬ 
ion, and which Herodotus and all other ancient 
writers mention with great caution. To be initiated 
in these was the great privilege of the priest, though 
this caste were not all admitted indiscriminately to 
this honor. This was reserved for the heir-appar¬ 
ent to the throne, and for such priests as excelled 
in virtue and wisdom. 

The principal seat of the Egyptian Mysteries was 
at Memphis, in the neighborhood of the great Pyra¬ 
mid. The legend was as follows: Osiris, a wise 
king of Egypt, left the care of his kingdom to his 
wife Isis, and traveled for three years to communi¬ 
cate to other nations the arts of civilization. Dur¬ 
ing his absence his brother Typhon formed a secret 
conspiracy to destroy him and to usurp his throne. 
On his return Osiris was invited by Typhon to 
an entertainment in the month of November, at 
which all the conspirators were present. Typhon 
produced a chest inlaid with gold, and promised 
7 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


to give it to any person whose body would exactly 
fit it Osiris was tempted to try the experiment; 
but he no sooner laid down in the chest than the 
lid was closed and nailed down and the chest thrown 
into the river Nile. The chest containing the body 
of Osiris' was, after being for a long time tossed 
about by the waves, finally cast up at Byblos,* in 
Phoenicia, and left at the foot of a tamarisk* tree. 
Isis, overwhelmed with grief for the loss of her 
husband, set out on a journey, and traversed the 
earth in search of the body. After many adven¬ 
tures, she at length discovered the spot whence it 
had been thrown up by the waves, and returned 
with it in triumph to Egypt. It was then pro¬ 
claimed, with the most extravagant demonstrations 
of joy, that Osiris was risen from the dead and 
had become a god. Such, with slight variations 
of details by different writers, are the general out¬ 
lines of the Osiris legend. 

It was represented in the public drama of initia¬ 
tion, by the image of a dead man being borne in 
an ark or coffin, by a procession of initiates; and 
this enclosure in the coffin or interment of the body 
was called the aphanism, or disappearance, and the 
lamentations for him formed the first part, or Mys¬ 
teries of Isis. On the third day after the interment, 
the priests and initiates carried t^e coffin, in which 
was also a golden vessel, down to the river Nile. 
Into the vessel they poured water from the river; 
and then, with a cry of “We have found him, let 
us rejoice/’ they declared that the dead Osiris, who 
had descended into Hades, had returned from 
thence, and was restored again to life; and the 
rejoicings which ensued constituted the second part, 
8 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


or Mysteries of Osiris. Its resemblance to the 
Hiramic legend of the Masonic system will be read¬ 
ily seen, and its symbolism will be easily under¬ 
stood. Osiris and Typhon are representatives of 
the two antagonistic principles—good and evil, 
light and darkness, life and death. 

Osiris as an Egyptian deity was worshiped under 
the form of an ox, personifying the power of good 
and the sunlight, united in history and in worship 
a sacred triad with Isis as his wife and Horus* as 
their child. Some of the Egyptian philosophers 
regarded him as a river god, and called him Nilus. 
But the truth is, Osiris represented the male, active 
or generative powers of nature; while Isis repre¬ 
sented its female, passive or prolific powers. Thus, 
when Osiris was the sun, Isis was the earth, to be 
vivified by his rays; when he was the Nile, Isis 
was the land of Egypt, fertilized by his overflow. 

The researches in the last few years have thrown 
much light on the Egyptian Mysteries. Among 
the ceremonies of the ancient people was one called 
the “Procession of Shrines,” which is mentioned 
in the Rosetta stone,* and depicted on the temple 
walls. One of these shrines was an ark, which was 
carried in procession by the priests, who supported 
it on their shoulders by staves passing through 
metal rings. It was thus brought into the temple 
and deposited on a stand or altar, that the cere¬ 
monies prescribed in the ritual might be performed 
before it. The contents of these arks were various,v 
but always of a mystical character. Sometimes 
the ark would contain symbols of life and stability, 
sometimes the sacred beetle, the symbol of the sun; 
and there was always a representation of two fig- 
9 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 

ures of the goddess Theme or Truth and Justice, 
which overshadowed the ark with their wings. 
These coincidences of the Egyptian and Hebrew 
arks must have been more than accidental. 

☆ ☆ 

Adonisian Mysteries in Syria. 

The Mysteries of Adonis, on account of their 
locality, bring them in close connection with the 
history and reputed origin of Freemasonry. They 
were principally celebrated at Byblos, a city in 
Phoenicia, situated near the base of Mount Leba¬ 
non, on the Mediterranean, north of Beyroot, and 
whose Scriptural or Hebrew name was Gebal, and 
whose inhabitants were the Giblites or Giblemjtes, 
who are referred to in the first Book of Kings 
(chap. v. 18) as being the “stone-squarers” em¬ 
ployed by King Solomon in building the temple. 
Hence there must have evidently been a very in¬ 
timate connection or frequent intercommunication 
between the workmen of the first temple and the 
inhabitants of Byblos. These Mysteries were said 
to have been first established at Babylon, and thence 
passed over into Syria, their principal seat being 
at Byblos, in that country. 

The legend of Adonis is: That he was the King 
of Cyprus. Adonis was possessed of such surpris¬ 
ing beauty that Venus* (Goddess of Love) became 
enamored with him, and adopted him as her favor¬ 
ite. Subsequently Adonis, who was a great hunter, 
died from a wound inflicted by a wild boar on 
Mount Lebanon. Venus flew to the succor of her 
favorite, but she came too late. Adonis was dead. 


IO 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


On his descent to the infernal regions Proserpine* 
(Queen of Hades) became, like Y r enus, so attracted 
by his beauty that, notwithstanding the entreaties 
of the goddess of love, she refused to restore him 
to earth. At length the prayers of the desponding 
Venus were listened to with favor by Jupiter 
(Father of Men and Gods) who reconciled the 
dispute between the two goddesses, and by whose 
decree Proserpine was compelled to consent that 
Adonis should spend six months of each year al¬ 
ternately with herself and Venus. 

The ceremonies commenced about the season of 
the year when the river Adonis began to be swollen 
by the flood at its source. It is a small river of 
Syria, which, rising in Mount Lebanon, enters the 
Mediterranean a few miles south of Byblos. It is 
a fact that, after a sudden fall of rain, the river, 
descending in floods, is tinged with a deep red by 
the soil of the hills in which it takes its rise, and 
imparts the color to the sea, into which it is dis¬ 
charged, for a considerable distance. The wor¬ 
shipers of Adonis believed that this reddish dis¬ 
coloration of the water was a symbol of his blood. 
The Israelites called him Thammuz. 

The Mysteries of Adonis were celebrated 
throughout all the countries of Syria,* and formed 
a part of the ceremonies of the Dionysian Architects 
of Tyre, by whom they were introduced into Judea. 
The sacred rites began with mourning, and the days 
set apart to the celebration of the death of Adonis 
were passed in cries and wailing, many often 
scourging themselves. On the last of the days of 
mourning, funeral rites were performed in honor 
of the god. On the following day the restoration 


ii 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


of Adonis to life was announced and was received 
with the most enthusiastic demonstrations of joy. 
The objects represented in these Mysteries were 
the grief of Venus and the death and resurrection 
of Adonis. The analogy in the symbolism that 
exists between Adonis in the Mysteries of the Gib- 
lemites at Byblos and Hiram the builder, can read¬ 
ily be seen by the Freemason in his own institution. 

Dionysian Mysteries. 

ft These Mysteries were celebrated throughout 
Greece and Asia Minor, but principally at Athens, 
where the years were numbered by them. They 
were introduced in Greece in the year 1415 B. C. 
by the Egyptian colonists, many of whom, accord¬ 
ing to Biblical chronology, went there as early as 
1760 B. C. These Mysteries were instituted in 
honor of Bacchus,* or, as the Greeks called him, 
Dionysus. About three hundred years afterwards,. 
Ionic migration occurred, the emigrants carrying 
with them from Greece to Asia Minor the Myster¬ 
ies of Dionysus, before they had been corrupted 
by the Athenians. 

In these Mysteries the murder of Dionysus by 
the Titans* was commemorated, in which legend 
he is evidently identified with the Egyptian Osiris, 
who was slain by his brother Typhon. 1 The ritual 
of Freemasonry preserves, in its central circle, the 
leading features of the Dionysian institution. 
Hiram and Dionysus are names representing and 
illustrating in their history and experience the 
same ideas. The initiation was a symbolical prog- 

1 See page 7, last paragraph. 


12 



FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


ress, from the dark, dead and frigid north to the 
refulgent east—a pilgrimage. The moral teach¬ 
ing of these Mysteries was the same as that of the 
Mysteries of Osiris. 

In the time of King Solomon, the ancient city 
of Tyre, in Phoenicia, was celebrated as the resi¬ 
dence of King Hiram, and to that monarch, Solo¬ 
mon and his father, David, were greatly indebted 
for assistance in the construction of the Temple 
at Jerusalem. 

The inhabitants of Tyre were distinguished for 
their skill as artificers, especially as workers in 
brass and other metals; and it is said to have been 
the principal seat of that skillful body of architects 
known as the Fraternity of Dionysian Archi¬ 
tects. The priests of Bacchus or Dionysus, having 
devoted themselves to architectural pursuits, found¬ 
ed this society, which was exclusively confined to 
the privilege of erecting temples and other public 
buildings; they were linked together by the secret 
ties of the Dionysian Mysteries, into which they 
had all been initiated. They were distinguished 
by many peculiarities that strikingly assimilate it 
to our Order. For the facilities of labor and gov¬ 
ernment, they were divided into communities, each 
of which was governed by a Master and Wardens. 
They employed in their ceremonial observances 
many of the implements which are still to be found 
among Freemasons, and used, like them, a univer¬ 
sal language, by which one brother could distin¬ 
guish another in the dark as well as in the light, 
and served to unite the members scattered over 
India, Persia and Syria, into one common brother¬ 
hood. The existence of this order in Tyre, at the 
13 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


time of the building of the Temple of Solomon, is 
universally admitted; and Hiram, the widow's son, 
to whom Solomon intrusted the superintendence of 
the workmen, as an inhabitant of Tyre, was, very 
probably, one of its members. Hence we may le¬ 
gitimately suppose that the Dionysian Architects 
were sent by Hiram, king of Tyre, to assist King 
Solomon in the construction of the house he was 
about to dedicate to Jehovah, and that they com¬ 
municated to their Jewish fellow-laborers a knowl¬ 
edge of the advantages of their fraternity, and 
invited them to a participation in its Mysteries and 
privileges. In the union, however, the apocryphal 
legend of the Dionysians would naturally give way 
to the true legend of the Masons, which was un¬ 
happily furnished by a melancholy incident that 
occurred at the time. The latter part of this state¬ 
ment is, it is admitted, a mere speculation, but one 
that has met the approval of Lowrie, Oliver and our 
best writers; and although this connection between 
the Dionysian Architects and the builders of King 
Solomon may not be supported by documentary evi¬ 
dence, the traditionary theory is at least plausible, 
and offers nothing that is absurd or impossible. 
If accepted, it supplies the necessary link which 
connects the Pagan* with the Jewish Mysteries. 

☆ ☆ 

Eleusinian Mysteries. 

The institution of these Mysteries may be placed 
about the year 1399 B. C., in the reign of Erectheus. 
A fragment of marble preserved at Oxford gives 
this as the date. This was three hundred years 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


prior to the reign of David in Jerusalem, and more 
than six hundred years before the first Olympiad,* 
the beginning of true Grecian history. They were 
celebrated at the village of Eleusis, near the city 
of Athens, Greece. Like the Egyptian Mysteries, 
they were divided into two classes, the lesser and 
the greater. The lesser Mysteries were celebrated 
on the banks of the Ilissus, whose waters supplied 
the means of purification of the aspirants. The 
greater Mysteries were celebrated in the temple 
at Eleusis. They were public to the many and 
secret to the few. They were dedicated to the god¬ 
dess Demeter, the Ceres* of the Romans, who was 
worshiped by the Greeks as the symbol of the pro¬ 
lific earth; and in them were scenically represented 
and secretly taught the loss and recovery of Perse¬ 
phone, and the doctrine of the unity of God and the 
immortality of the soul. The scenic representa¬ 
tions, secret signs and words of recognition, the 
instruction in a peculiar dogma, and the establish¬ 
ment of a hidden bond of fraternity, gave attrac¬ 
tion to these Mysteries, which lasted until the very 
fall of the Roman Empire, and exerted a powerful 
influence on the mystical associations of the Middle 
Ages.* That which connects them with the modern 
initiations of Freemasonry is evident in the common 
thought which pervades and identifies both; though 
it is difficult, and perhaps impossible, to trace all 
the connecting links of the historic chain. 

Mysteries of Mithras. 

There are none of the ancient Mysteries which 
afford a more interesting subject of investigation 

- 15 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


to the Masonic scholar than those of the Persian 
god Mithras. These Mysteries are supposed to 
have been carried from Egypt by Zeradusht or 
Zoroaster, and instituted as an initiation into the 
principles of the religion which he had founded 
among the ancient Persians. Of the identity of 
Mithras with other deities there have been various 
opinions, but to the Persians, who first practiced 
his Mysteries, he was a sun god, and worshiped 
as the god of light. The Mysteries of Mithras 
were always celebrated in caves. They were di¬ 
vided into seven stages or degrees and consisted of 
the most rigorous proofs of fortitude and courage. 
The Mysteries of Mithras passed from Persia into 
Europe, and were introduced into Rome in the time 
of Pompey (87-48 B. C.). Here they flourished, 
with various success, until the year 378 A. D., 
when they were proscribed by a decree of the Sen¬ 
ate, and the sacred cave, in which they had been 
celebrated, was destroyed by the Praetorian prefect. 
The Mithraic monuments that are still extant in 
the museums of Europe evidently show that the 
immortality of the soul was one of the doctrines 
taught in the Mithraic initiation. 

A description of the other ancient Mysteries 
would only be to repeat what has been said, and as 
all took their rise in Egypt, we may judge the 
source of the fountain by the nature of the stream. 
All contain just such legends, everywhere differing 
in particulars, but everywhere coinciding in general 
character. After what has now been said it can 
not be difficult to see clearly the true end and great 
purpose of the Mysteries, the first and greatest 
fruits of which were, according to the ancients, to 
16 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


civilize savage people, soften their ferocious man¬ 
ners, render them social, and prepare them for a 
kind of life more worthy of the dignity of man. 
And such were the results of the ancient legends, 
taught through symbolism and mysteries. 


*7 




FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


Israelites. 

Israel (Heb. Yisrael, “a prince with God”), the 
name bestowed upon Jacob when he wrestled with 
an angel at Peniel (Gen. xxxii. 28), afterward 
the distinctive name of his descendants. 



MENEPTA. 

Egypt. A celebrated country in the north of 
Africa, at the eastern part of the Mediterranean 
Sea. The Hebrews called it Mizrain, and hence it 
is now called by the Arabs, Mizr. The Greeks and 
Romans called it ^Egyptus, whence Egypt; but the 
origin of this name is unknown. 

18 





































FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


Rameses the Great, of Egypt, was succeeded by 
King Menepta, who is now generally accepted by 
historians as the Pharaoh* of the exodus of Israel. 
The story of this remarkable race begins with the 
call of Abraham from his home at Ur,* the city of 
his birth, usually called “Ur of the Chaldees/’ near 
the Euphrates, in the northwest part of Mesopo¬ 
tamia,* to his promised abode in Canaan.* (See 
map.) 

Abraham was a son of Terah, a descendant of 
Shem, and born in 1996 B. C. In 1922 B. C. he 
went to Haran,* in Mesopotamia (a region north¬ 
east of the Euphrates), accompanied by his father, 
his wife Sarai, his brother Nahor, and his nephew 
Lot* (Gen. xi. 26-32). His father dies soon after, 
and he takes his wife and nephew and enters the 
land of promise, or Canaan, as a nomad or wander¬ 
ing shepherd. Sojourning for a time at Shechem,* 
he built here, as was his custom, an altar to the 
Lord. Removing from place to place for conven¬ 
ience of water and pasturage, he was at length 
driven by a famine into Egypt.. Returning to 
Canaan in 1918 B. C., rich in flocks and herds; he 
left Lot to dwell in the fertile valley of the lower 
Jordan on the plain of Sodom, and pitched his own 
tents in Mamre: the same is Hebron* in the land 
of Canaan (Gen. xii., xiii.). Here his descend¬ 
ants multiplied to the fifth generation. He became 
greatly renowned for piety and wisdom, and was 
called a friend of God. Sarai his wife, being barren, 
gives Hagar, her Egyptian handmaid, to Abram, 
and in 1910 B. C. Ishmael was born (Gen. xvi. 
11, 12). God covenants with Abram, changes his 
name to Abraham, institutes circumcision, and 

19 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 

promises Isaac by Sarai, whom he calls Sarah. In 
fulfillment of the divine promise Isaac was born 
in 1896 B. C., in the extreme old age of both his 
parents, Abraham being 100 and Sarah ninety 
years of age. In 1859 B. C., Sarah dies, and five 
years later Abraham marries Keturah, by whom 
he had six sons. Abraham dies in 1821 B. C.,‘aged 
175 years. His sons Isaac and Ishmael bury him 
in the cave of Machpelah in the field of Ephron, 
which is before Mamre (or Hebron) (Gen. xxv. 
9,10). 

Isaac at the age of- forty marries Rebekah, his 
kinswoman, who bore him twin sons, Esau (or 
Edom) and Jacob (afterwards called Israel). They 
were born in 1836 B. C., but the place of their birth 
can not be ascertained from the narrative in Gen. 
xxv., except that it was in the Negeb or “South 
Country” of the land of Canaan. Esau was the 
first-born and the favorite of his father, but Jacob, 
in his early manhood, by the aid of. his mother, 
obtained the birthright* (Gen. xxvii.), and in 
fear of the rage of Esau was sent away by his par¬ 
ents to his uncle Laban at Haran, in Mesopotamia, 
where he married his cousins Leah and Rachel, and 
resided twenty years, becoming wealthy in flocks 
and herds. Jacob then returns to Canaan with his 
family and his riches. Arriving near home, he 
meets his brother Esau, and in a rather dramatic 
personal interview they become reconciled (Gen. 
xxxiii.). Isaac dies at Hebron in 1716 B. C., 
aged 180 years, and is buried in the cave of Mach¬ 
pelah with his father. Lie was a man of gentle 
nature, a nomadic herdsman of devout and blame¬ 
less life. 


20 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


Joseph was the eleventh of the twelve sons of 
Jacob, and was born at Haran, in Mesopotamia, 
about 1745 B. C. He was the favorite son of his 
father, and envied by his brethren on that account. 
Their enmity was further excited by two dreams 
in which his future greatness was foreshadowed, 
and this led them to sell him as a slave to some 
Midianite* traders, by whom he was carried into 
Egypt, and sold to Potiphar, an officer of the king. 
The Midianite traders were an ancient Arabian 
race, the descendants of Midian, the fourth of the 
six sons of Abraham by Keturah. They appear to 
have dwelt mainly to the south of Moab, and cov¬ 
ered a territory extending to the neighborhood of 
Mount Sinai. Joseph acquired the confidence of 
his master, who set him as overseer over all his 
property, but, having repelled dishonorable propo¬ 
sals made to him by his mistress, she accused him 
falsely to her husband, and caused him to be thrown 
into prison. Here he interpreted the dreams of 
two of his fellow-prisoners, the chief baker and 
chief butler of Pharaoh, and when his predictions 
had been justified by the result, he was summoned 
by King Pharaoh, at the instance of the butler, to> 
interpret two dreams which portended seven years 
of prosperity followed by seven of famine. The 
king was so much struck by the wisdom of the 
advice given by the young Hebrew that he adopted 
all his suggestions for making preparations for the 
time of famine, and appointed him ruler over the 
whole land. The measures taken by Joseph as 
vizier or viceroy resulted greatly to the advantage 
of the king and his people, securing an abundant 
provision for the time of the famine. This calamity 


21 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


extended also to the adjoining countries, and led 
Jacob to dispatch his sons to the Egyptian granaries 
to purchase corn, and there the brothers were 
brought face to face with Joseph, who recognized 
his unnatural brethren, and after a series of strata¬ 
gems (Gen. xlii.), by which he reminded them of 
and punished them for their crime, the whole fam¬ 
ily, by his request, to the number of about seventy, 
was brought into and established in the "land of 
Goshen/’* or Ramses, as it was called by the Egyp¬ 
tians. (This was about 1706 1 B. C.) Here they 
grew and multiplied for nearly two hundred and 
fifteen years. Joseph married a daughter of the 
high priest of On (Heliopolis), and had two sons, 
Manasseh and Ephraim, who became the progeni¬ 
tors of the tribes bearing those names, the most 
powerful of the future kingdom of Israel. Joseph 
preserved his authority until his death, which 
occurred in 1635 B. C. at the age of no. His body 
was embalmed, and at the time of the Exodus was 
carried to Palestine* and buried at Shechem, 
where his tomb is still shown. 

Jacob died in Egypt in 1689 B. C., aged 147 
years; his body was embalmed and buried with 
great pomp and all possible honors in the burial- 
place of Abraham, near Hebron (Gen. 1 .). 

For a time the growing Israelitic tribe was held 
in honor by the government and people; but later 
the ruling class began to look askance at the 
strangers, and then to oppress them. They were 
set to work at building and digging. They were 


1 This date has been sharply contested. Some authors claim 
it should be about the year 1550 B. C. 


22 



FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 

set to sweat in the brickyards, and were beaten by 
taskmasters until they broke out in insurrection. 
In the course of time, denial of religious privileges 
complicated and intensified the rebellion. In the 
year 1573 B. C., Pharaoh orders all the male chil¬ 
dren of the Hebrews to be drowned. Two years 
later Jochebed, the wife of Amram, a Levite, suc¬ 
ceeded in concealing her infant three months, but 
when she could no longer hide him, she put him in 
a basket of papyrus and placed the' basket among 
the rushes of the Nile, and set his sister, Miriam, 
to watch from afar; finally the king’s daughter 
found the child, and, being struck with its beauty, 
determined to adopt it, and sent Miriam to fetch 
a Hebrew nurse, who conceived the idea of getting 
her mother, and thus Jochebed became nurse to 
her own child. According to Ex. xi. 10, the 
child was adopted by the king’s daughter, who 
“called his name Moses; and she said, Because I 
drew him out of the water.” And according to 
Acts vii. 22, he was initiated in all the secret wis¬ 
dom of the Egyptian priesthood; but the Bible tells 
us nothing of his youth from his adoption by the 
princess to the day when he slew an Egyptian over¬ 
seer for his barbarous treatment of a Jewish slave. 
This was in the year 1531 B. C. He was then 
compelled to flee from Egypt, and lived many years 
in the land of the Midianites, with Jethro* the 
priest, whose daughter he married and whose flocks 
he tended. In 1491 B. C. he was called, according 
to Exodus iii., and Acts vii. 30-34, from the wil¬ 
derness of Mount Sinai, where he was tending the 
flocks -of his father-in-law, to free his brethren 
from slavery in which they lived. He returned to 
23 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


Egypt, but at first he was received by his country¬ 
men with suspicion, and by the Egyptians with 
contempt. Nevertheless, Moses appeared as a 
leader of his people, and demanded, in a personal 
interview with the king at Tanis, the privilege of 
conducting them a three days’ march into the desert 



EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 

to sacrifice to Jehovah. But Pharaoh replied by 
charging the Hebrews with a purpose to escape 
their tasks under a pretence of piety. Whereupon 
Moses, by signs and wonders done in the king’s 
house and kingdom, humbled the monarch and 
compelled him “to let the people go” (Ex. xiii.). 
After some delays the Israelites departed along 
24 














FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


the banks of the canal, touching the principal 
Hebrew towns, and gathering their population as 
they went. The route then lay through the Wadi 
Tumilot (Valley), which extended to the Gulf of 
Suez, where they arrived, a few miles south of the 
present city of that name. Here the fugitives were 
hemmed in by the forces of Pharaoh, which had 
been sent after the retreating host. At this point 
in the gulf there is a shallow, stretching from shore 
to shore, almost fordable at low tide. “Moses 
stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord 
caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all 
that night, and made the sea dry land, and the 
waters were divided.” Over this the hosts of the 
Hebrews, numbering, it is said, 603,000 men of sol¬ 
dier age, or more than 2,000,000 in all, crossed to 
the other side in safety, which the Egyptians in 
pursuit essaying to do were drowned, for the waters 
returned to their place, while the Pharaoh’s horse¬ 
men and chariots, with wheels clogged in the mire, 
were panic-stricken and overwhelmed. 

The Israelites had no sooner escaped from the 
Egyptians than they were attacked at Rephidim* 
by the Amalekites,* whom they are said to have 
signally defeated (Ex. xvii.). The Amalekites 
were a nomadic and warlike people, of whose 
ancestors there is no record, but, at the time of 
the Exodus, they occupied the wilderness between 
Egypt and Palestine. They lived generally in 
migrating parties, in caves or in tents, like the Bed- 
aween Arabs of the present day. After the defeat 
of the Amalekites, Moses led the people to Mount 
Sinai,* in Arabia, which is situated in that country 
known as the Sinaitic peninsula that lies between 

25 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


the horns of the Red Sea or Gulfs of Suez and 
Akaba, and is the place where the law of Jehovah 
was given and the Jewish economy instituted. The 
Jewish tabernacle and the ark of the covenant 



HIGH PRIEST OF ISRAEL. 


were here constructed in the year 1490 B. C. by 
Aholiab* and Bezaleel, under the immediate direc¬ 
tions of Moses. The tribes were numbered after 
their families by the house of their fathers, who 
were the descendants of Abraham or the twelve 
sons of Jacob. The twelve sons were Reuben, Sim- 
26 





FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


eon, Levi, Judah, Zebulun, Issachar, Dan, Gad, 
Asher, Naphtali, Joseph and Benjamin. The 
Levites were set aside to have exclusive jurisdiction 
over the national worship, and as they were not to 
inherit lands, the two sons of Joseph, Ephraim and 
Manasseh, were chosen as their father’s representa¬ 
tives and became progenitors in the twelve tribes 
of Israel. The tribe of Levi received, instead of 
a province, forty-eight cities scattered throughout 
Canaan and the tenth part of the fruits of the field, 
and were allowed generally to settle throughout the 
land where they chose. Aaron, who was Moses’ 
brother, of the tribe of Levites, by a miraculous 
judgment, became the first high priest. Moses di¬ 
rected that twelve rods should be laid up in the Holy 
of Holies of the tabernacle, one for each tribe; the 
name of Aaron on one rod to represent the tribe of 
Levi, and Moses said, “The man’s rod whom I shall 
choose shall blossom.” On the next day these rods 
were brought out and exhibited to the people, 
and while all the rest remained dry and withered, 
that of Aaron alone budded and blossomed and 
yielded fruit (Num. xvii.). Philo-Judseus says 
that “Moses was instructed by the Egyptian 
priests in the philosophy of symbols and hiero¬ 
glyphics as well as in the mysteries of the sacred 
animals.” The sacred historian tells us he was 
“learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians”; and 
Manetho and other traditionary writers tell us that 
he was educated at Heliopolis as a priest, under his 
Egyptian name of Osarsiph, and that there he was 
taught the whole range of literature and science, 
which it was customary to impart to the priesthood 
of Egypt. It is not strange, when he began in the 
27 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


wilderness to establish his new religion, that he 
should have given a holy use to the symbols whose 
meaning he had learned in his ecclesiastical edu¬ 
cation on the banks of the Nile. 

The tabernacle itself was, according to Josephus, 
forty-five feet long by fifteen wide, its greater length 
being from east to west. The sides were fifteen feet 



THE TABERNACLE. 


high, and there was a sloping roof. There was 
no place of entrance except at the eastern end, which 
was covered by curtains. It was divided into two 
apartments by a richly decorated curtain. There 
were suspended, so as to cover the sides and top of 
the tabernacle, four curtains; the first or inner cur¬ 
tain was composed of fine linen, magnificently em¬ 
broidered, with figures of cherubim, in shades of 
blue, purple and scarlet; this formed the “Beauti- 
28 





FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


fur ceiling. The other coverings or curtains were 
of goats’ hair and the skins of rams and other ani¬ 
mals colored red. The two sides and the western 
end were formed of boards of shittim wood, over¬ 
laid with thin plates of gold, and fixed in solid sock¬ 
ets or vases of silver. It was surrounded by a 
court, the walls of which were made of fine twined 
linen, attached to pillars bound with bands of silver 
and set in sockets of brass. The length of the court 
was 150 feet, its breadth 75 feet, and its height 7*4 
feet. The tabernacle in all its structure was ar¬ 
ranged for convenient packing, transportation and 
setting up; but nevertheless, in size, in beauty of 
workmanship, and in costliness of material, was a 
magnificent structure for the wilderness. This tab-' 
ernacle was carried by the Israelites in all their 
wanderings. 

During their march through the wilderness the 
twelve tribes had between them four principal ban¬ 
ners, or standards, to which reference is made in the 
Book of Numbers, chapter ii.: “Every man of the 
children of Israel shall pitch by his own standard.” 
But as to what were the devices on the banners or 
what were their various colors, the Bible is absolute¬ 
ly silent. To the inventive genius of the Talmudists 
we are indebted for all that we-know or profess 
to know on this subject. Wherever the Israelites 
halted they encamped with three tribes on each side 
of the tabernacle. The tribes of Judah, Issachar 
and Zebulun on the east side under the standard of 
Judah; Reuben, Simeon and Gad on the south side 
under the standard of Reuben; Ephraim, Manas- 
seh and Benjamin on the west side under the stand¬ 
ard of Ephraim; Dan, Asher and Naphtali on the 
29 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


north side under the standard of Dan; the Levites 
in the midst of the camp. 

The Ark of the Covenant was a chest in which 
were kept the two tables of stone, on which were en¬ 
graved the Ten Commandments. It contained like¬ 
wise a golden pot of manna, Aaron’s rod, and the 
tables of the covenant. It was always deposited 
in the most sacred place of the tabernacle. It was 



ARK OF THE COVENANT. 


made of shittim wood, overlaid within and with¬ 
out with pure gold. It was about three feet nine 
inches long, two feet three inches wide, and of the 
same extent in depth. It had on the side two rings 
of gold, through which were placed staves of shit¬ 
tim wood, overlaid with gold, by which, when nec¬ 
essary, it was borne by the Levites. Its cover or 
lid was of pure gold, over which were placed two 
figures called cherubim with expanded wings (Ex. 
xxv.). The cover of the ark was called Kap- 
30 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


hiret, from Kaphar, “to forgive sin,” and hence the 
English name of “mercy-seat,” as being the place 
where the intercession for sin was made. Aaron’s 
rod was made sacred and carried in the ark from 
the manner in which the tribe of Levites were cho¬ 
sen to be invested with the priesthood. The pot of 
manna was placed in the ark of the covenant to 
commemorate the heavenly bread, by which the 
Israelites were sustained in the wilderness; and is 
considered as a symbol of life, not the transitory, 
but the enduring one of a future world. 

Having again taken up their march and arriving 
at the wilderness of Paran,* Moses sent twelve cho¬ 
sen men, one of each tribe, to examine the land of 
Canaan, who, after forty days, return to Kadesh- 
barnea,* a city at the southeast border of Palestine, 
and bring an evil report of the land. Caleb and 
Joshua, who were among those that searched the 
land, said to the children of Israel, “Let us go up 
at once and possess it; for we are well able to over¬ 
come it.” “If the Lord delight in us, then he will 
bring us into this land, and give it us, a land which 
floweth with milk and honey;” but the people mur¬ 
mur and rebel, and God swears in his wrath that 
none of the murmurers shall enter the land, but be 
consumed in the desert,* where they are doomed to 
wander forty years. The people, however, resolve 
to enter Canaan against the will of God, but 
are this time repulsed by the Amalekites (Num. 
xiii., xiv.). Moses then in his progress from Sinai 
to Canaan, a desert march from station to station 
through a period of forty years, arrives with his 
people near the border of Palestine in the desert of 
Zin,* and from there seeks passage through the 
3 1 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


land of the Edomites* (descendants of Esau, Ja¬ 
cob’s twin brother), but is positively refused and 
threatened with the sword should he make the 
attempt. Whereupon the Israelites turn away, 
even avoiding the Moabites* and the Ammonites* 
(descendants of Lot by his two daughters), 
but proceeded boldly against the kings of the 
Amorites,* Sihon, who reigned at Hesbon, and 
Og, at Bashan. Both of these chieftain? lived 
east of the Jordan, and were the descendants 
of Canaan, an ancient patriarch, a son of Ham, 
and the ancestor of the Canaanites. They were 
dispossessed of their lands, which were be¬ 
stowed on the tribes of Reuben and Gad and a 
half-tribe of Manasseh (Num. xxxii.). Aaron* 
died on Mount Hor, in Edom, Arabia,* in the for¬ 
tieth year after leaving Egypt, at the age of about 
123 years, and was succeeded in the priesthood by 
his son Eleazer. Not long after this, in the year 
1451 B. C., Moses* died on Mount Nebo, one of 
the Abarim range of mountains, “which is in the 
land of Moab, that is over against Jericho,” * at the 
age of 120, and was succeeded in authority by 
Joshua of the tribe of Ephraim. Joshua proved him¬ 
self to be an able and resolute general. Lie led the 
tribes of Israel across the Jordan into Canaan, or 
the Holy Land, and then began a war of extermi¬ 
nation upon the native inhabitants. All were ex¬ 
terminated except the Gibeonites,* who secured 
their safety by a stratagem (Josh, lx.), and be¬ 
came a dependent or servile class among the 
Hebrews.* The tabernacle was set up at Shiloh* 
in 1444 B. C., and the rest of the land of Palestine 
divided, making in all twelve confederate states 
32 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


according to the tribes (Josh, xviii.). Joshua died 
in the year 1443 B. C., at the age of no years. 
Then followed a series of judges as rulers for 
nearly 350 years. 

In the year 1116 B. C., just before the battle of 
the Israelites and the Philistines* at Ebenezer, near 
Shiloh, the ark of the covenant was brought from 
Shiloh into the camp of the Israelites to inspire them 
with greater courage and confidence, but the Phi¬ 
listines overcame them, captured the ark and car¬ 
ried it first to Ashdod, then to Gath, and from 
there to Ekron. In 1115 B. C. it was returned by 
the Philistines from Ekron to the Israelites at Kir- 
jath-jearim, a city of the Gibeonites situated about 
nine miles northwest of Jerusalem, and there placed 
in the house of Abinadab, a Levite, where it re¬ 
mained for seventy years before being conveyed to 
Jerusalem (I Sam. iv.-vi.). 

The tabernacle was taken from Shiloh to Gibeon,* 
but the exact time of its removal is not known. In 

I. Chron. xxi. 29, it states that the tabernacle of 
Moses was still at Gibeon (1017 B. C.). Again, in 

II. Chron. i. 3-13, that the tabernacle still remained 
at Gibeon, and that Solomon went there to sacrifice 
before it. This is the last mention made of it. 


Jewish History. 

The first Jewish history extends from the time 
of the conquest of Canaan, 1445 B. C., to the estab¬ 
lishment of the monarchy under Saul, 1095 B. C., 
During this period Israel was governed in the 
name of Jehovah by judges who were the rulers, 
chiefs or leaders of Israel (a theocracy). Previous 
33 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


to the conquest Moses had been their lawgiver and 
leader. After him Joshua, the general, gave the 
people peace by war. And after the conquest a 
series of rulers arose known as judges, for they 



SAUL ANOINTED. 

“judged Israel.” Sometimes, for an interval, there 
was no judge at all. During such interval every 
man was at liberty to do what seemed good in his 
own eyes. By and by the example of the surround¬ 
ing nations produced the infection of monarchy in 
34 












FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 

Israel. The people clamored for a king. The un¬ 
certain judgeship proved only an equivocal defense 
against the strong, personal governments of the ad¬ 
jacent pagan nations. Under the popular impulse, 
and against the theocratic principle, Saul, the son 
of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, was chosen for 
the royal honor, and was anointed king by the 
prophet Samuel. With this event the second period 
of Israelitish history begins. 

Saul was a warrior. He was an austere and able 
man, cordially disliked by the priesthood, between 
whom and himself there was a conflict of author¬ 
ity. He began his reign by making war on the 
adjacent tribes, whom he reduced to subjection, the 
first of whom were the Ammonites. He then fell 
upon the Philistines, whom he routed with great 
slaughter in the decisive battle of Michmash. Then 
the Moabites, Amalekites and Edomites were suc¬ 
cessively driven beyond the borders of Israel. 
Meanwhile the intractable spirit of the king had 
given the priests opportunity to incite discontent, 
and an anti-Saul party had arisen among the peo¬ 
ple, and popular attention was directed to young 
David as the coming ruler of Israel. David was 
one of the most remarkable characters in history. 
He was a son of Jesse, and was born in Bethlehem,* 
Judah, about 1085 B. C. Jesse was the son of Obed 
and the grandchild of Boaz and Ruth. Boaz was 
the lineal descendant of Pharez, the son of Judah 
(Gen. xxxviii.; Ruth iv. 13-22). 

In his youth David followed the occupation of a 
shepherd, and he appears to have acquired great 
skill as a musician. When about twenty-two years 
of age he was received into the household of Saul, 
35 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


king of Israel, who, we are told, was troubled with 
an “evil spirit.” David, by playing upon the harp, 
soothed and “refreshed” Saul, and the “evil spirit 
departed from him.” On the breaking out of war 
with the Philistines in 1063 B. C. he seems to have 
been released from the house of Saul, and returned 
home to feed his father’s sheep at Bethlehem. His 
father soon after sent him to the camp of King Saul 
with provisions for his brethren. On his arrival he 
found the two armies drawn up in battle array, 
ready for attack, and as he talked with his brethren, 
Goliath, the Philistine giant, came forward, and, for 
the fortieth time in as many days, offered his chal¬ 
lenge for a single combat. David prevailed upon 
Saul to let him go and meet him, whereupon he 
chose five smooth stones out of the brook, and put 
them in a shepherd’s bag which he had, and, with 
his sling in hand, he drew near to the Philistine. 
Goliath came on, and “David put his hand in his 
bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote 
the Philistine in his forehead; and he fell upon his 
face to the earth.” For this and other deeds of 
valor, according to the promise of the king, he re¬ 
ceived Michal, Saul’s youngest daughter, in mar¬ 
riage. He was given a command in the army and 
acquitted himself well on all occasions, and rapidly 
gained the confidence and love of the people. But 
Saul was offended by the praises which David re¬ 
ceived for his prowess, and not only regarded his 
son-in-law with bitter jealousy, but made repeated 
attempts upon his life. David at length (1056 B. 
C.) was obliged to flee and seek refuge in the wil¬ 
derness of Judea, where he soon gathered a band of 
six hundred men, whom he kept in perfect control 
36 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


and employed only against the enemies of the land. 
He was still pursued by Saul with implacable hostil¬ 
ity; and, as he would not lift his hand against his 
king, though he often had him in his power, he at 
length judged it best to retire into the land of the 
Philistines. Here he was generously received as an 
enemy of Saul and of Israel, and given the town of 
Ziklag* as a dwelling-place, where he and his men, 
with their households, lived while in that country, 
and which has been “held by the kings of Judah 
unto this day.” 

In 1055 B. C., while the armies of the Philistines 
were being assembled at Aphek, a city of the tribe 
of Issachar, in the valley of Jezreel, preparatory to 
the attack upon the Israelites, who were camped 
at Jezreel near by in the same valley, the princes 
of the Philistines became suspicious of David and 
his forces who had accompanied them, and made 
complaint to Achish, their king, not to let him go 
into battle with them, lest he become their adver¬ 
sary. They said, “Is not this David of whom they 
sang one to another in dances, saying, Saul slew 
his thousand, and David his ten thousand ?” Then 
Achish, who had become a great friend of David, 
sent for him, and said unto him, “Thou hast been 
upright, and thy going out and thy coming 
in with me is good in my sight, for I have 
not found evil in thee since the day of thy 
coming unto me unto this day: nevertheless 
the lords favor thee not. Wherefore now re¬ 
turn, and go in peace, that thou displease not 
the lords of the Philistines.” So David and his 
men returned into the land of the Philistines. On 
their arrival at Ziklag they found the town burned, 
37 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR ‘ 


and their wives and their sons and their daughters 
all taken captives and carried away by the Amalek- 
ites. David went at once in pursuit and soon over¬ 
took them, where he found them scattered about, 
“eating and drinking and dancing, because of all 
the spoil that they had taken out of the land of the 
Philistines, and out of the land of Judah.” David 
fought them from twilight even unto the evening of 
the next day; and all that escaped were four hun¬ 
dred young men who rode away on camels. David 
recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away 
—wives, sons, daughters, and all the spoil they had 
taken. On his return to Ziklag David sent a part 
of the spoil unto the elders of Judah, even to his 
friends, at Hebron, and to all the places where he 
and his men were wont to haunt, saying, “Behold 
a present for you of the spoil of the enemies of the 
Lord.” (In later days this would have been con¬ 
sidered political shrewdness.) 

The engagement between the Philistines and the 
Israelites resulted in a complete victory for the Phi¬ 
listines. The Israelites fled to Mt. Gilboa, where all 
the sons of King Saul were slain but one, and Saul 
himself, being severely wounded, took his own life 
by falling upon his sword. The death of Saul 
opened the way for David to the promised throne. 
He was at once chosen king over the tribe of Judah, 
reigning at Hebron for seven years, while Ishbo- 
sheth, Saul’s only remaining son, was recognized as 
king of Israel, and in power on the east side of the 
Jordan, and for two years was obeyed by all the 
tribes except Judah. In 1048 B. C., Ishbosheth was 
assassinated, and David became king over all Israel 
(I. Sam. xvi.; II. Sam. i.-v.) 

38 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


One of the first acts of his reign was the conquest 
of Jerusalem, the principal town of the Jebusites, 
who were descendants of Canaan and occupied that 
part of the land of Canaan (Palestine) situated 
south of the center of the country, about thirty- 
seven miles from the Mediterranean, and about 
twenty-four miles from the river Jordan; an ele¬ 
vated ground upon which rests the city of Jerusa¬ 
lem, which they called Jebus. The old traditions 
and natural prepossessions both of Jews and Chris¬ 
tians connect it with Salem, of which Melchizedek 
was king (Gen. xlv.). The Jebusites seem to have 
been territorially one of the smallest of the Canaan- 
itish nations, but from their position one of the 
strongest. 

In the conquest of Canaan, their king, Adoni- 
Zedek, was slain by Joshua at Makkedah, after the 
battle of Beth-horon (Josh. x.). After Joshua’s 
death (1443 B. C.) the Israelites obtained posses¬ 
sion of the town, which they afterwards jointly in¬ 
habited with the Jebusites for nearly 400 years. 
When David became king (1055 B. C.) he expelled 
the latter and made it the capital of his kingdom, 
under the name of Jebus-salem or Jerusalem, where 
he reigned for thirty-three years. In 1045 B. C. the 
ark of the covenant, which was at Kirjath-jearim, 
was carried, under King David’s instructions, to 
Jerusalem, where it was placed in a temporary tab¬ 
ernacle erected for its use. Here the priests per¬ 
formed their daily service until Solomon erected the 
temple, then the temporary or Davidic tabernacle 
was put away as a relic. Both the old, or Sinaitic, 
and Davidic tabernacles were in time altogether lost 
sight of, and no doubt became victims of careless- 
39 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


ness and the corroding influence of time or were 
burned up. David died in ioi 5 B. C., having reigned 
forty years, and was by far the greatest monarch 
that ever sat on the throne of Israel. Solomon, who 
succeeded to the throne, was the son of David by 
Bathsheba, whose husband, Uriah, he caused to be 
basely slain (II. Sam. xi., xii.). 


King Solomon’s Temple. 

It was King David who first proposed to substi¬ 
tute for the nomadic tabernacle a permanent place 
of worship for his people. For this purpose he pur¬ 
chased Mount Moriah, one of the eminences of the 
ridge which was known as Mount Zion, and was 
the property of Oman, the Jebusite, who used it as 
a threshing-floor. But, although King David had 
designed the temple and acquired all the necessary 
means, and even collected many of the materials, 
he was not permitted to commence the undertaking, 
and the execution of the task was left to his son 
and successor, Solomon. Accordingly that mon¬ 
arch laid the foundation of the edifice in the 
fourth year of his reign, 1012 B. C., and with 
the assistance of his friend and ally, Hiram, king 
of Tyre, completed it in about seven years and 
a half, dedicating it to the service of the Most 
High in the year 1004 B. C. This was the year 
of the world 3000, according to the Hebrew chro¬ 
nology; and although there has been much dif¬ 
ference among the chronologists in relation to the 
precise date, this is the one that has been generally 
accepted, and it is therefore adopted by Masons in 
their calculations of different epochs. 

40 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


^ When Solomon was about to build the Temple 
(II. Chron. i. io) he called upon Hiram, king 


a 



THE TEMPLE OF SOLOMON. 

of Tyre, to furnish him 
with a supply of timber. 
The Tyrian king not only 
supplied him with the tim¬ 
ber, which was cut in the 
forest of Lebanon by the 
Sideonites and sent on 
floats by sea to Joppa,* a 
distance of over one hun¬ 
dred miles, and thence car¬ 
ried by land about forty 
miles to Jerusalem, but also sent him a man by the 
name of Hiram Abiff, the most accomplished de¬ 
signer and operator then known in the country. 
Tyre* and Sidon* were the chief cities of the Phce- 


41 













FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


nicians. 1 Tyre was distant from Jerusalem about 
one hundred and twenty miles by sea, and was thirty 
miles nearer by land. Sidon was under the Tyrian 
Government, situated twenty miles north of Tyre in 
the forests of Lebanon. It was a place of consider¬ 
able importance even in the time of Joshua (1451 
B. C.), who succeeded Moses, and who spoke of it 
as “Great Sidon.” Hence it is evident that the 
Phoenicians were far advanced in the arts of life 
when the Israelites reached the promised land. That* 
no confusion might arise, owing to the great num¬ 
bers employed, King Solomon selected those of most 
enlightened minds, religious and zealous in good 
work, as masters to superintend the workmen; and 
for overseers of the work he selected men who were 
skillful in geometry and proportion, and who had 
been initiated and proved in the mystical learning 
of the ancient sages. He numbered and classed 
all the craftsmen, whether natives or foreigners. 
At the completion of the temple, the ark of the cov¬ 
enant was deposited by Solomon in the Sanctum 
Sanctorum, or Holy of Holies, of the temple. It 
was lost upon the final destruction of the building 
by the Chaldeans in 588 B. C. The first temple 
of the Jews was called the palace or the house of 
Jehovah to indicate its splendor and magnificence, 
and was intended to be the perpetual dwelling-place 
of the Lord.. It was one of the most magnificent 
structures of the ancient world. It was surrounded 
with spacious courts, and the whole structure occu¬ 
pied at least half a mile in circumference. This was 
surrounded by a wall of great height, exceeding in 


1 See Phoenicians, in Supplement. 

42 



FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


the lowest part four hundred and fifty feet, con¬ 
structed entirely of white marble. The body of the 
temple was in size much less than many a modern 
parish church, for its length was but ninety feet, 1 or, 
including the porch, one hundred and five, and its 
width but thirty, being just twice the size of the old 
or Sinaitic tabernacle. It was its outer courts, its 
numerous terraces, and the magnificence of its ex¬ 
ternal and internal decorations, together with its 
elevated position above the surrounding dwellings, 
which produced that splendor of appearance that 
attracted the admiration of all who beheld it and 
gave cause for the queen of Sheba,* when it first 
broke upon her view, to exclaim in admiration, “A 
Most Excellent Master must have done this!” 

The twelve tribes of Israel were all engaged in its 
construction, and for its erection David had collect¬ 
ed more than four thousand millions of dollars, and 
184,600 men were engaged about seven and one- 
half years in building it; after its completion it was 
dedicated by Solomon with solemn prayer, and 
seven days of fasting, during which a peace-offer¬ 
ing. of twenty thousand oxen and six times that 
number of sheep was made, to consume which the 
holy fire came down from heaven. 

☆ ☆ 

The Exploration of Jerusalem. 

Recent explorations of Jerusalem by an associa¬ 
tion known as “The Palestine Exploration Fund” of 


1 Temple measurements are based upon a cubit of eighteen 
inches. 


43 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


England, with Captain Charles Warren in charge,, 
have made many discoveries that go to corroborate 
the testimony of Josephus and of Scriptural writers 
of the earlier history of the Holy City. 

The present city of Jerusalem stands, as it were, 
upon a heap of dust and rubbish, under which is the 
Jerusalem of the Bible. The fact that ancient Jeru¬ 
salem was seventeen times captured, and more than 
once leveled to the ground, its splendid edifices con¬ 
verted into piles of dust and ruins, is not sufficient 
altogether to account for this singular situation, 
but it is rather to the fact that the stone of which the 
houses and walks of Jerusalem are built is very 
friable and exfoliates rapidly, so rapidly that a few 
centuries are sufficient to reduce a square block to 
a shapeless mass. This, of course, produces pulver¬ 
ized earth, the earth which has buried fifty, seventy- 
five and even a hundred feet deep, the Jerusalem 
of our Saviour’s period. The so-called “Jerusalem 
marble,” taken from the immense quarry which un¬ 
derlies so much of the northeastern quarter of the 
city, and which has been excavated during the last 
three thousand years expressly for building mate¬ 
rials, is so soft when it first comes from the quarry 
that it may almost be crushed between the fingers. 
It is but little firmer than a well-crystallized loaf 
of sugar. True, it hardens upon exposure, and in 
time becomes a fair material for building purposes 
but if any one is surprised to find the city of Jerusa¬ 
lem standing upon a pile of disintegrated limestone, 
fifty feet thick, as it surely does, he has only to 
explore that enormous quarry, a quarter of a mile 
deep, to discover where the rubbish originally came 
from. 


44 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


This explanation will enable the reader to under¬ 
stand what is meant by exploring Jerusalem . It is 
simply to go to the bottom of that enormous mound 
of dust and ashes, and let in the light upon streets 
and foundations upon which it shone two thousand 
years ago. In this respect there is a most exact 
analogy between the exploration of Jerusalem and 
of Pompeii. Over the latter city the superincum¬ 
bent mass is scoriae, lava and volcanic ashes; in 
the former the accumulations are of pulverized lime¬ 
stone, added, of course, to the garbage of the city, 
shreds of pottery, bones, etc., etc., the accumula¬ 
tions of that extended period. It is no romance to 
say that the present Jerusalem overlies many Jeru¬ 
salems that have gone to dust, in the centuries since 
the Jebusites established their citadel upon Mount 
Zion, before the time of Abraham, and that the ex¬ 
plorer’s spade must pass these graves of cities one 
by one to find the remnants which he seeks. These 
remarks are likewise applicable to the old sites of 
Tyre, Sidon, Gebal, etc. 

The Foundation of the Temple. 

It is difficult for the superficial reader to com¬ 
prehend that although the temple of Solomon is 
absolutely gone —effaced from the earth, so that not 
a crumb or fragment can be recognized—yet its 
foundation remains. By this term is not meant 
the walls upon which the temple was built (com¬ 
paring it with an ordinary edifice), but the platform, 
the hill, the mound artificially erected to serve as a 
basis for the sublime structure. 

The hill, styled in the Old Testament Moriah, 
45 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


and more recently Mount Moriah, was, by nature, 
a narrow, knobby, crooked ridge (of the class famil¬ 
iarly known as “hog back”), deeply channeled by 
ravines and gulleys, honeycombed with caves, and 
in no proper sense fit to be used as the basis of a 
great temple. On all sides it fell off rapidly and 
very steeply, except from northwest to southeast, 
the direction in which the ridge ran. The area on 
the summit was enlarged by walls built along the 
declivities, the outside wall deep down the valleys, 
from ioo to 150 feet below the area on which 
the temple buildings stood. One hundred feet 
again below this lay the original bed of the brook 
Kedron. The foundations of the temple, therefore, 
were 250 feet above the deep defiles around. This 
area, originally built by Solomon and enlarged by 
Herod, still exists, running on the south along the 
valley of Hinnom 1,000 feet and along the Kedron 
1,500. To transform this unsightly and circum¬ 
scribed ridge into a solid, broad, high and durable 
platform was a problem of stupendous magnitude— 
as great a one, perhaps even greater, than would 
have been that of making a platform entirely arti¬ 
ficial. 

To illustrate and convey a partial idea of the task 
that devolved upon Hiram and his builders: Go 
out upon a level plain; measure off an oblong square, 
1,600 feet by 1,000, equal to thirty-six and a half 
acres; build a wall around it of great stones, eight, 
ten, twenty, and even forty feet long, and of pro¬ 
portionate breadth and thickness; bind the founda¬ 
tion-stones of this wall firmly together with clamps 
of iron and lead, and in the same manner fasten 
them into the native rock that lies below; raise that 
46 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


wall to an average height of one hundred and fifty 
feet of solid masonwork; Ull up solid the whole area 
of thirty-six and a half acres to that great height 
of one hundred and fifty feet! This being done, 
you will have such a platform as was erected by 
Solomon’s craftsmen, upon which to build the 
temple. 

The figure is not absolutely correct, for there 
was a central core to the platform, viz.: the original 
Mount Moriah, and in the masonwork many large 
vaults and subterranean chambers were left. 

Now, when we describe the foundations of King 
Solomon’s temple as still remaining, we allude to 
this stupendous base, the platform of thirty-six and 
a half acres, constructed in so substantial a man¬ 
ner that neither time, nor the devastation of bar¬ 
barian force, nor the mighty bruit of earthquakes, 
has had power to break it up. So large are the 
stones of which the outer walls are built, so artis¬ 
tically are they laid together in relation to each 
other, and so firmly morticed at their interior edges 
and at their points of junction with the native rock, 
that it is safe to say that no power that human hands 
can apply will ever remove them, nor will any vol¬ 
canic force affect them, less than that which would 
elevate the bed of the sea and sink the mountains 
into the depths. 

On top of and along the outer walls of this in¬ 
closure or foundation were built the porticoes or 
covered walks, above which were galleries or apart¬ 
ments, supported by pillars of white marble, that 
overlooked the brook Kedron and the valley of Hin- 
nom. They were magnificent structures, resembling 
the nave and aisles of Gothic cathedrals. But these 


47 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


were only the outer buildings of the temple area. 
The porticoes opened inwardly upon a court paved 






x: l 


loin 


: 


I 


X. ! 



““LF 


n q 


_ _ . .. ^ 




PLAN OF TEMPLE. 


A. The Holy of Holies. 

B. The Holy Place. 

C. The Altar of Burnt Offer¬ 

ings. 

D. The Brazen Laver. 

E. The Court of the Priests. 


F. The Court of Israel. 

J. The Court of the Gentiles. 

K. The Eastern Gate. 

L. Porches or Colonnades. 

M. Outer Wall. 


with marble and open to the sky. This was called 
the “Court of the Gentiles,” because the Gentiles 
were admitted into it, but were prohibited from 

48 





































































































FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


passing farther. It was the exterior court, and by 
far the largest of all the courts belonging to the 
temple. It entirely surrounded the other courts and 
the temple itself. 

Passing through the court of the Gentiles, you 
enter the Court of Israel, which was divided by a 
low stone wall into two divisions, the outer one 
being occupied by the women, from which an ascent 
is made of fifteen steps to the inner one, which was 
occupied by the men. In this court, and the piazza 
which surrounded it, the Israelites stood in solemn 
and reverent silence while their sacrifices were 
burning in the inner court, or “Court of the 
Priests,” and while the services of the sanctuary 
were performed. 

The “Court of the Priests” was within the Court 
of Israel and surrounded by it. Within this court 
stood the brazen altar on which the sacrifices were 
consumed, the molten sea in which the priests 
washed, and the ten brazen lavers for washing the 
sacrifices; also the various utensils and instruments 
used for sacrificing. To this court the people 
brought their oblations and sacrifices, hut none were 
permitted to enter but the priests who prepared and 
offered the sacrifice. From the Court of the Priests 
twelve steps ascended to the temple, strictly so 
called, which was divided into three parts, the porch, 
the sanctuary and the Holy of Holies. At the en¬ 
trance to the porch of the temple was a gate made 
entirely of brass, the most precious metal known to 
the ancients. Beside this gate and just under the 
porch there were two pillars, Jachin and Boaz. 
These pillars were twenty-seven feet high and six 
feet through. The thickness of the brass of each 
49 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


pillar was three inches. The one that stood on the 
right hand (or south) was called Jachin, and the 
other at the left hand (or north) was called Boaz. 
It has been supposed that Solomon, in erecting these 
pillars, had reference to the pillar of cloud and 
pillar of fire, which went before the Israelites in 
their journey through the wilderness, and that the 
right-hand or south pillar represented the pillar of 
cloud and the left-hand or north pillar represented 
that of fire. Solomon did not simply erect them as 
ornaments to the temple, but as memorials of God's 
repeated promises of support to his people of Israel. 
For the pillar (Jachin), derived from the Hebrew 
words (Jah), “Jehovah," and (achin), “to estab¬ 
lish," signifies that “God will establish his house of 
Israel"; while the pillar (Boaz), compounded of 
(b), “in," and (oaz), “strength," signifies that “in 
strength shall it be established." And thus were 
the Jews, in passing through the porch to the tem¬ 
ple, daily reminded of the abundant promises of 
God, and inspired with confidence in his protection 
and gratitude for his many acts of kindness to his 
chosen people. If this symbolism be correct, the 
pillars of the porch, like those of the wilderness, 
would refer to the superintending and protecting 
power of Deity. (Calcott, Cand. Disg., 66.) 

From the porch you enter the sanctuary by a por¬ 
tal, which, instead of folding-doors, was furnished 
with a magnificent veil of many colors, which mys¬ 
tically represented the universe. In the sanctuary 
were placed the various utensils necessary for the 
daily worship. The Holy of Holies, or innermost 
chamber, was separated from the sanctuary by 
doors of olive, richly sculptured and inlaid with 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


gold and covered with veils of blue, purple, scarlet, 
and the finest linen. Into the most sacred place the 
high priest alone could enter, and that only once a 
year, on the day of atonement. 

If one looked upon Mount Moriah from the brow 
of Mount Olivet opposite, and beheld the city from 
the direction of Bethany, it must have been a sight 
which, for architectural beauty and grandeur, per¬ 
haps, has never been equaled, certainly not sur¬ 
passed. It was an artificial mountain from the deep 
ravines below, wall, column, roof, pinnacle, culmi¬ 
nating in the temple within and above all, and prob¬ 
ably measuring between 500 and 600 feet in height. 

James Fergusson, Esq., the distinguished archi¬ 
tect, writes: ‘‘The triple temple of Jerusalem, the 
lower court standing on its magnificent terraces, 
the inner court raised on its platform in the center, 
and the temple itself rising out of the group and 
crowning the whole, must have formed, when com¬ 
bined with the beauty of the situation, one of the 
most splendid architectural combinations of the 
ancient world.” 

Josephus wrote: “If any one looked down from 
the top of the battlements he would be giddy, while 
his sight could not reach to such an immense depth.” 
This passed for foolish exaggeration till recent ex¬ 
plorations vindicated the statement. 

Croley (in Salathiel), in his magnificent word- 
painting, describes the mountain and its glorious 
occupant (Temple of.Herod 1 ), the year of its de¬ 
struction, A. D. 70, which was similar in struc¬ 
ture to the Temple of Solomon, as follows: “I see 


1 See Temple of Solomon, in Supplement. 

5i 



FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


the Court of the Gentiles circling the whole, a fort¬ 
ress of the purest marble, with its wall rising six 
hundred feet from the valley; its kingly entrance, 
worthy of the fame of Solomon; its innumerable 
and stately buildings for the priests and officers of 
the temple, and above them, glittering like a suc¬ 
cession of diadems, those alabaster porticoes and 
colonnades in which the chiefs and sages of Jeru¬ 
salem sat teaching the people, or walked, breathing 
the air, and gazing on the grandeur of a landscape 
which swept the whole amphitheater of the moun¬ 
tains. I see, rising above this stupendous boundary, 
the court of the Jewish women, separated by its por¬ 
phyry pillars and richly sculptured wall; above this 
the separated court of the men; still higher, the 
court of the priests; and highest, the crowning 
splendor of all the central temple, the place of the 
sanctuary, and of the Holy of Holies, covered with 
plates of gold, its roof planted with lofty spear¬ 
heads of gold, the most precious marbles and metals 
everywhere flashing back the day, till Mount Mo¬ 
riah stood forth to the eye of the stranger approach¬ 
ing Jerusalem, what it had been so often described 
by its bards and people, a mountain of snow stud¬ 
ded with jewels” 

All these buildings, porticoes, columns, pinnacles, 
altar and temple, have perished. “Not one stone 
remains upon another which has not been thrown 
down.” The area alone remains, and the massive 
substructures for 3,000 years have been sleeping 
in their courses. The preservation has been due 
to the ruin. Buildings so vast have been toppled 
down the slopes of the Moriah, that the original 
defiles and valleys have been almost obliterated. 
52 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


What has been regarded as the original surface 
has been found to be debris from 70 to 90 feet deep. 

With pickaxe and shovel British explorers have 
been down to the original foundations. Fallen col¬ 
umns have been met with and avoided, or a way 
blasted through them. The cinders of burnt Jerusa¬ 
lem have been cut through and turned up to the 
light—rich moulds deposited by the treasures of 
Jewish pride. The seal of Haggai, in ancient He¬ 
brew characters, was picked up out of the siftings of 
this deposit. The first courses of stones deposited by 
Phoenician builders have been reached, lying on the 
living rock. Quarry-marks, put on in vermilion, 
have been copied—known to be quarry-marks by the 
trickling drops of paint, still visible—only they are 
above the letters, showing that when they were 
written the stones lay with the underside upper¬ 
most. 

The whole of Mount Moriah has been found to be 
fairly honeycombed with cisterns and passages. 
One of the cisterns, known as the Great Sea, would 
contain two millions of gallons, and all together not 
less than ten millions. The wall of Ophel has been 
exposed—at the present time 70 feet high—though 
buried in debris; and the remains of towers and 
houses have been lighted upon belonging to the age 
of the kings of Judah. 

The seven successive objects that have occupied 
this sacred ridge, to which a Mason's attention is 
directed, are: 

1. The Altar of Abraham. 

2. The Threshine-floor of Oman. 

3. The Altar of David. 

4. The Temple of Solomon. 

53 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


5. The Temple of Zerubbabel. 

6. The Temple of Herod. 

7. The Mosque of Omar. In the fourtenth cen¬ 
tury this building was described as a very fair 
house, lofty and circular, covered with lead, well 
paved with white marble. 

The temple area is now occupied by two Turkish 
mosques, into which, until recently, neither Jew nor 
Christian was permitted to enter. 


Ancient Temples. 

The Egyptian form of a temple was borrowed 
by the Jews, and with some modifications adopted 
by the Greeks and Romans, whence it passed over 
into modern Europe. 

The direction of an Egyptian temple was usual¬ 
ly from east to west, the entrance being at the east. 
It was a quadrangular building, much longer than 
its width, and was situated in the western part of a 
sacred enclosure. The approach through this en¬ 
closure to the temple proper was frequently by a 
double row of Sphinxes. In front of the entrance 
were a pair of tall obelisks, which will remind the 
reader of the two pillars at the porch of Solomon’s 
temple. The temple was divided into a spacious hall, 
where the great body of the worshipers assem¬ 
bled. Beyond it, in the western extremity, was the 
cell or sekos, equivalent to the Jewish Holy of Ho¬ 
lies, into which the priests only entered; and in the 
remotest part, behind a curtain, appeared the image 
of the god seated on his shrine or the sacred ani¬ 
mal which represented him. 

The Grecian temole c like the Egyptian and the 
54 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 

Hebrew, were placed within an inclosure, which 
was separated from the profane land around it, in 
early times, by ropes, but afterwards by a wall. 
The temple was usually quadrangular, although 
some were circular in form. It was divided into 
parts similar to the Egyptian. 

The Roman temples, after they emerged from 
their primitive simplicity, were constructed much 
upon the mode of the Grecian. The idea of a sepa¬ 
ration into a holy and a most holy place has every¬ 
where been preserved. The same idea is maintained 
in the construction of Masonic Lodges, which are 
but imitations, in spirit, of the ancient temples. The 
Most Holy Place of the Egyptians and Jews was 
in the West, whereas now it is in the East. 

Division of the Hebrew Nation. 

Solomon died in the year 975 B. C. During his 
reign he peacefully consolidated and recaptured, 
fortified or built cities or stations for commerce 
or protection at strategic points. He built reser¬ 
voirs, aqueducts, many wonderful buildings, and 
laid out “paradises” and gardens. Many kings were 
his tributaries; untold wealth and the wonders and 
curiosities of many countries flowed into or through 
the land, so that “silver was nothing accounted of in 
his day.” Many foreigners were attracted by his 
splendor and wisdom, notably Balkis ( ?), the queen 
of Sheba, with her marvelous retinue. To meet 
with Oriental ideas of his royal magnificence, his 
harem grew to number one thousand inmates, and, 
contrary to the law of Moses, he not only multiplied 
wives, but by his marriages formed alliances with 
55 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


many heathen nations. In his old age his “strange” 
wives led him to commit or permit gross and vicious 
idolatry. He was gifted with transcendent wis¬ 
dom and the most brilliant mental powers, yet 
towards the end of his life he presented the sad 
spectacle of a common eastern despot, voluptuous, 
idolatrous, occasionally even cruel, and his reign can 
not but be regarded, both politically and financially, 
as a splendid failure. Before his death Edom and 
Syria revolted, tribal jealousies arose in Israel, and 
Jeroboam, of the tribe of Ephraim, who was super¬ 
intendent of the public works, began to plot the di¬ 
vision of the nation, in which he was aided by the 
alienation of the people coming through the intoler¬ 
able oppression and taxation that were necessary 
to meet the enormous expenses of the court. For 
this conspiracy Jeroboam was forced to flee to save 
his life. He went to Egypt and placed himself un¬ 
der the protection of Shishak, the king. 

Hardly had Solomon breathed his last when his 
people arose in revolt. Rehoboam, his son and suc¬ 
cessor, whose mother was Naamah, an Ammonite, 
adopted his father’s methods as his own, and with 
a haughty air unwisely provoked the resentment 
which justice and policy called upon him to allay. 
Ten tribes, under the leadership of Jeroboam, who-, 
after the death of Solomon, had returned to Jeru¬ 
salem, seceded from his dominion and formed the 
nation or kingdom of Israel, and took up their res¬ 
idence in Samaria; while the remaining two, the 
tribes of Judah and Benjamin, retained possession 
of the Temple and of Jerusalem under the name of 
the Kingdom of Judah.* Thus, in 975 B. C., was 
effected the division of the Hebrew nation into peo- 
56 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


pies who ever afterwards maintained towards each 
other an attitude of estrangement and hostility. In 
the following year Jeroboam, king of Israel, abol¬ 
ished the worship of Jehovah and established that 
of the golden calves at Dan and Bethel. The priests 
and Levites and pious Israelites leave their posses¬ 
sions in the kingdom of Israel and are incorporated 
in the kingdom of Judah. 

The Temple retained its splendor only thirty- 
three years, for in the year 971 B. C., Shishak, the 
king of Egypt, made war upon the king of Judah, 
took Jerusalem and carried away the choicest treas¬ 
ures. From that time to the period of its final de¬ 
struction the history of the Temple is but a history 
of alternate spoliations and repairs, of profanations 
and idolatry and subsequent restorations to a purity 
of worship. 

ft After the completion of the Temple, having fin¬ 
ished that great work, and filled all Judea with tem¬ 
ples and palaces and walled cities (II. Chron. xi.; 
I. Kings ix.), having enriched and beautified Gezer, 
Baalah and Tadmor with the results of their gen¬ 
ius, many of these “cunning workmen,” or mem¬ 
bers of the Fraternity of Architects, passed into 
Greece, Rome, Spain, and other countries, wher¬ 
ever their services could be employed in the erec¬ 
tion of famous edifices for which the ancient world 
is justly celebrated. 

☆ ☆ 

About the year 721 B. C. the army of Shalman¬ 
eser IV., king of Assyria, invaded Samaria, the 
home of the descendants of the ten revolted tribes, 
captured the city of Samaria, the capital, and 
57 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


caused the downfall of the kingdom of Israel. 
Hoshea, its sovereign, was thrown into prison, the 
greater part of the inhabitants carried away cap¬ 
tive into the far East, the mountainous regions of 
Media, and their place supplied by Assyrian colo¬ 
nists brought from Babylon, Persia, Shushan, Elam, 
and other places. These colonists brought with 
them the idolatrous creed and practices of the re¬ 
gion from which they emigrated. They mingled 
with the remnant of the Israelites, intermarried and 
formed the mixed people called Samaritans.* The 
Israelites who had been exiled never returned, and 
what became of them has always been, and we pre¬ 
sume will always remain, matter of vaguest specu¬ 
lation. 


58 




FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


Ancient to Modern. 

In passing from this brief outline of the condi¬ 
tion of the fraternity in what we may properly de¬ 
nominate the ancient history, we will now endeavor 
to trace its progress from that period to the more 
enlightened days of modern architecture, and the 
cultivation of the arts and sciences, in such chrono¬ 
logical order as will give the most concise historical 
facts, based upon substantial documents, and the 
principal monuments erected by the traveling op¬ 
erative fraternities or Freemasons. 

Roman Colleges of Artificers. 

# In 716 before the Christian era, the Roman col¬ 
leges of Artificers were established. They were 
composed of men learned in all the arts and trades 
necessary for the execution of civil, religious, naval 
and hydraulic architecture, with their own laws and 
judges, laws based on those of the Dionysian Ar¬ 
tificers, 1 whose mysteries had spread among the 
principal peoples of the East. (See Dionysian Mys¬ 
teries, p. 12). Numa, the great lawgiver, the sec¬ 
ond king of Rome, in founding these colleges, made 
them at the same time civil and religious societies, 
with the exclusive privilege of building temples and 
edifices, their relations to the state and priesthood 
being determined by the general laws. At their 
head were presidents called Masters, Overseers or 

1 “The papal briefs which protected them alleged that im¬ 
munities were given them, after the example of Hiram, king 
of Tyre, when he sent artisans to King Solomon, for the pur¬ 
pose of building the temple at Jerusalem” (Royal Masonic 
Cyclopedia, p. 741). 


59 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


Wardens, Censors, Treasurers, Keepers of the 
Seals, Architects and Secretaries; there was in each 
of them a priest. The Workmen were divided into 
three classes: Elders, or chief men of the trade, and 
their journeymen and apprentices; they had secret 
meetings; paid monthly dues, by which means a 
common fund was accumulated for the maintenance 
or relief of indigent or destitute members; they 
elected the candidates for admission by voice of the 
members, and performed a secret ceremony of in¬ 
itiation and made a symbolic use of the implements 
of their art or profession. No college could consist 
of less than three members. In all these respects 
they were like modern Lodges of Freemasonry. 
With the advance of the empire, their numbers in¬ 
creased and their privileges greatly extended, so 
that they became an important element in the body 
politic. 

The Romans were early distinguished for a spirit 
of colonization, which was conducted through the 
legionary soldiers of the army. To each legion 
there was attached a College or Corporation of Ar¬ 
tificers, which was organized with the legion at 
Rome, and passed with it through all its cam¬ 
paigns, and when it colonized remained in the col¬ 
ony to plant the seeds of Roman civilization, and to 
teach the principles of Roman arts. The members 
of the college erected fortifications for the legions 
in times of war, and in times of peace, or when the 
legion became stationary, constructed temples and 
dwelling-houses. When England was invaded by 
the Roman armies in the year 55 B. C., the legions 
which went there carried with them their Colleges 
of Artificers. One of these legions, under Tulius 
60 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


Caesar, advancing into the northern limits of the 
country, established a colony, and, to defend 
themselves, formed an entrenched camp with walls, 
inside of which, as elsewhere, habitations, temples 
and aqueducts appeared, which, under the name of 
Eboricum, gave birth to the city of York, after¬ 
wards so celebrated in the history of Masonry. In 
the beginning of the second century, after the fall 
of the Roman Republic, all the Colleges of Artifi¬ 
cers lost their ancient privileges. But in the year 
286, Carausius, known as the “Count of the 
Saxon Shore,” and “Admiral of the Northern 
Seas,” was besought by the Britons,* suffering from 
the depredations of the Saxon and Frank pirates, 
to assume the sovereignty of their island. Having 
organized a marine victorious against the pirates, 
.which before his advent had filled the “narrow 
seas,” he took possession of Britain and declared 
himself emperor. In order to conciliate the Roman 
Colleges of Artificers, then wielding an immense 
influence in that country, he restored their ancient 
privileges, since which time they have been called 
privileged or Freemasons, to distinguish them from 
those not thus entitled. In 294 Carausius was as¬ 
sassinated by his prime minister and confidential 
friend, Allectus, who maintained his usurped do¬ 
minions for three years, when Roman power put 
an end to the independent sovereignty of Britain, 
and reunited it with the empire. 

The invasion of the northern barbarians into 
Italy demanded the entire force of the Roman 
armies to defend the integrity of the empire at 
home. Britain in the year 420 was abandoned, 
and the natives, principally Celts, with the 
61 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


Roman colonists, and the Colleges of Artificers, 
who had settled among them, were left to defend 
themselves. Long previous to this, however, Chris¬ 
tianity had dawned, not only upon the British 
Islands, but upon the whole of Europe, and the 
influences of the new faith were not long in being 
felt by the colleges, and the next phase in their 
history is the record of their assumption of the 
Christian life and doctrines. 

☆ ☆ 

Building Corporations. 

# As soon as the colonists and the natives of Brit¬ 
ain had been abandoned, they were driven, first by 
the Piets, their savage neighbors, and then by the 
Saxon sea robbers, into the mountains of Wales 
and the islands of the Irish Sea. The Artificers, 
who were converted to Christianity, and who had 
remained when the legions left the country, went 
with them, and having lost their connection with 
the mother institution at Rome, became thenceforth 
simply Building Corporations or Societies of 
Builders . They retained the organization which 
had always worked so well and the name of Free¬ 
masons. Subsequently, in the sixth century, about 
the year 550, when the whole of England was taken 
possession of by the Saxon invaders, the Britons, 
headed by the monks and priests, and accompanied 
by the Artificers, fled into Ireland and Scotland 
which countries they civilized and converted, and 
whose inhabitants were instructed in the art of 
building. 

Whenever we read of the extension in barbarous 
62 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 

or pagan countries of Christianity, and the conver¬ 
sion of their inhabitants to the true faith, we also 
hear of the propagation of the art of building in 
the same places by the corporations of architects, 
the immediate successors of the Roman legionary 
colleges, for the new religion required churches, 
and, in time, cathedrals and monasteries, and the 
ecclesiastical architecture speedily suggested im¬ 
provements in the civil. In time, all the religious 
knowledge and all the architectural skill of the 
northern part of Europe were concentrated in the 
remote regions of Ireland and Scotland, whence 
missionaries were sent back to England to convert 
the pagan Saxon. From England these energetic 
missionaries, accompanied by the pious Architects, 
passed into Europe, and effectually labored for the 
conversion of the Scandinavian nations, introduc¬ 
ing into Germany, Sweden, Norway, and even Ire¬ 
land, the blessings of Christianity, and the refine¬ 
ments of civilized life. 

The religious contest between the original Chris¬ 
tians of Britain and the Papal power, after years 
of controversy, finally terminated in the submission 
of the British bishops to the Pope. As soon as 
the Papal authority was firmly established over 
Europe, the Roman Catholic hierarchy secured the 
services of the builders’ corporations, and these, un¬ 
der the patronage of the Pope and the bishops, were 
everywhere engaged as ‘‘Traveling Freemasons,” 
in the construction of ecclesiastical and regal edi¬ 
fices. Henceforth we find these corporations of 
builders exercising their art in all countries, every¬ 
where proving by the identity of their designs that 
they were controlled by universally accepted princi- 

63 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


pies, and showing in every other way the character¬ 
istics of a corporation or guild. 

In England the Fraternities of Builders or Free¬ 
masons were subject to many adverse difficulties, 
from the repeated invasions of Scots, Piets, Danes 
and Saxons, which impeded their active labors, 
yet were they enabled to maintain their existence 
according to the oldest manuscript extant, until in 
the year 926, they held that General Assembly at 
the city of York which framed the constitutions 
that governed the English Craft for eight hun¬ 
dred years. In that manuscript was found the 
following legend, which Freemasonry of the pres¬ 
ent day accepts as genuine portions of authen¬ 
tic history. The legend was given by Dr. Ander¬ 
son in the first Book of Constitutions in 1723, 
and afterwards accepted and published by William 
Preston in the following words: “Edward (the 
Elder) died in 924 and was succeeded by Athel- 
stane,* his son, who appointed his brother, Edwin, 
patron of the Masons. This prince procured a 
charter from Athelstane, empowering them to meet 
annually in communication at York. In this city 
the first Grand Lodge of England was formed- in 
926, at which Edwin presided as Grand Master. 
Here many old writings were produced in Greek, 
Latin and other languages, from which it is said 
the Constitutions of the English Lodge have been 
extracted.” It is that code of laws adopted at that 
General Assembly in 926, which became the basis 
on which all subsequent Masonic Constitutions 
were framed. (See York, in Supplement.) 

The calling of this Assembly proves that the 
Freemasons were previously in activity in the 
64 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


kingdom, which is, in fact, otherwise proved by 
records of the building by them, at an earlier period, 
of cathedrals, abbeys and castles. But we date the 
York Assembly as the first known and acknowl¬ 
edged organization of the Craft in England into a 
national body or Grand Lodge. 

After that General Assembly, the fraternity ex¬ 
perienced, as in other countries, its alternate periods 
of prosperity and decay. For a long time the York 
Assembly exercised the Masonic jurisdiction over 
all England; but in 1567 the Masons of the south¬ 
ern part of the island elected Sir Thomas Gresham, 
the celebrated merchant, their Grand Master. He 
was succeeded in turn by Chas. Howard, Earl of 
Effingham, and George Hastings, Earl of Hunting¬ 
don, and they in 1607 by the illustrious architect, 
Inigo Jones,* who inspired great spirit into the 
Lodges. Men, not architects nor masons, but emi¬ 
nent for learning, knowledge or position, were ad¬ 
mitted as members of the body under the designa¬ 
tion of Accepted brethren; hence the origin of the 
present style of the society, Free and Accepted 
Masons. 

☆ ☆ 

Speculative Masonry. 

☆There were now two Grand Masters in England 
who assumed distinctive titles; the Grand Master 
of the North being called “Grand Master of All 
England,” while he who presided in the South was 
called “Grand Master of England.” In the begin¬ 
ning of the eighteenth century Masonry in the south 
of England had fallen into decay. The disturb- 

65 



FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


ances of the revolution, which placed William III. 
on the throne (1689), and the subsequent warmth 
of political feelings, gave the Order a wound fatal 
to its success. Sir Christopher Wren,* long active 
as a Master-builder and Grand Master in the reign 
of Queen Anne (1702-1714), the last of his royal 
patrons, had become aged, infirm and inactive, 
and hence the general assemblies of the Grand 
Lodge had ceased to take place. In 1715 there were 
but four Lodges in the south of England and all 
working in the city of London. These Lodges, 
being desirous of reviving the prosperity of the 
Order, determined to unite themselves under a new 
Grand Master, and revive the communications and 
annual festivals of the society. They therefore 
“met at the Apple-tree Tavern” and constituted 
themselves a Grand Lodge, pro tempore, in due 
form. They resolved to hold the annual assembly 
and feast, and then to choose a Grand Master from 
among themselves. Accordingly on St. John the 
Baptist’s day (June 24) in 1717, the annual assem¬ 
bly and feast were held and Mr. Anthony Sayer 
was duly proposed and elected Grand Master. A 
statute was enacted which entirely changed the 
objects of the institution. From an operative soci¬ 
ety it became wholly speculative in its character. 
It ceased to build material temples, and devoted" 
itself to the erection of a spiritual one. It retained 
the working tools and technical terms of art of 
the original operative institution, simply because 
of the religious symbolism which these conveyed. 
They became the Freemasons of the present day, 
and established on an imperishable foundation that 
sublime institution which presents all over the hab 
66 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


itable earth the most wonderful system of religious 
and moral symbolism that the world ever saw. The 
Grand Lodges of York and of London kept up a 
friendly intercourse and mutual interchange of 
recognition, until 1725, when dissensions arose 
from encroachment upon territory, causing opposi¬ 
tion to each other, and in 1735 all friendly inter¬ 
course ceased. From that time the York Masons 
considered their interests distinct from the Masons 
under the Grand Lodge of London. Three years 
after, in 1738, several brethren, dissatisfied with 
the conduct of the Grand Lodge of England, sece¬ 
ded from it, and held unauthorized meetings for the 
purpose of initiation. Taking advantage of the 
breach between the Grand Lodges of York and 
London, they assumed the character of the York 
Masons. On the Grand Lodge’s determination to 
put strictly in execution the laws against such sece- 
ders, they still further separated from its jurisdic¬ 
tion and assumed the appellation of “Ancient York 
Masons.” They announced that the ancient land¬ 
marks were alone preserved by them; and declaring 
that the regular Lodges had adopted new plans, 
and sanctioned innovations, they branded them with 
the name of “Modern Masons.” In 1739 they es¬ 
tablished a new Grand Lodge in London, under the 
name of “Grand Lodge of Ancient York Masons,” 
and persevering in the measures they had adopted, 
held communications and appointed annual feasts. 
They were soon after recognized by the Masons 
of Scotland and Ireland, and were encouraged and 
fostered by many of the nobility. The two Grand 
Lodges continued to exist, and to act in opposition 
to each other, extending their schisms into other 
67 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


countries, especially into America, until the year 
1813, when, under the Grand Mastership of the 
Duke of Sussex for the “Moderns” and his brother, 
the Duke of Kent, for the “Ancients/’ they were 
united under the title of the “United Grand Lodge 
of England.” The “Grand Lodge of All England” 
at York continued to work until 1792, when it finally 
collapsed. 

Such is the history of Freemasonry in England 
as conceded by all Masons and Masonic writers for 
the past two centuries. It spread in other countries 
with more or less activity, for through the instru¬ 
mentality of the Grand Lodge of England, which 
became, indeed, the Mother Lodge of the World, 
Freemasonry was everywhere revived. Lodges on 
the English model, which afterwards gave rise to 
the establishment of Grand Lodges in their respec¬ 
tive countries, were organized in France in 1727, 
in Holland in 1731, in Germany in 1733 and in Italy 
in 1735. Freem'asonry was established in America 
at Boston, Mass., in the year 1733. 

☆ ☆ 

Fraternity of Builders or Freemasons 
of Continental Europe. 

GERMANY. 

It is universally admitted that in the early ages 
of Christianity the clergy alone were the patrons 
of arts and sciences. This was because all learning 
was then almost exclusively confined to ecclesiastics. 
Very few of the laity could read or write; even 
kings affixed the sign of the cross, in place of their 
68 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


signatures, to the charters and other documents 
which they issued, and from the time of Charle¬ 
magne, in the eighth century, to the middle of the 
twelfth all knowledge and practice of architecture, 
painting and sculpture were exclusively confined to 
the monks; and bishops personally superintended 
the erection of the churches and cathedrals in their 
dioceses, because not only the principles, but the 
practice of the art of building, were secrets kept 
within the walls of cloisters, and were unknown to 
laymen. Many of the founders of the monastic 
orders made it a peculiar duty for the monks* to 
devote themselves to architecture and church build¬ 
ing. In the year 716 A. D. the English monk, St. 
Boniface, went into Germany 1 and organized a 
special class of monks for the practice of building, 
under the name of Operarii, or Craftsmen, and 
Magestri Operum, or Masters of the Works. The 
labors and duties of these monks were divided and 
under the same system or organization as the 
Roman Colleges of Artificers. 2 Some of them de¬ 
signed the plan of the building, others were painters 
and sculptors, and then there were those who were 
called coementarii, or stonemasons, who performed 
the practical labors of construction. In large build¬ 
ings, where many workmen were required, laymen 
were also employed under the direction of the 
monks. Among the laymen who were employed in 
the monasteries as assistants and laborers, many 
were possessed of superior intelligence. The con¬ 
stant and intimate association of these with the 


1 See page 63, first paragraph. 

2 See page 59. 


69 



FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


monks in the prosecution of the same design led to 
this result: that in the process of time, gradually 
and almost unconsciously, the monks imparted to 
them the art, secrets and principles of architecture. 
Then, by degrees, the knowledge of the arts and 
sciences went from these monkish builders out into 
the world, and the laymen architects, withdrawing 
from the ecclesiastical fraternities, organized 
brotherhoods of their own. These independent 
brotherhoods now began to be called upon wherever 
an important building was to be erected, and event¬ 
ually they entirely superseded the monkish teachers 
in the prosecution of the art of building. But now 
a new classification took place. The more intelli¬ 
gent of the laymen, who had received these secrets 
from the monks, were distinguished as architects 
from the ordinary laborers, or common masons. 
The latter knew only the use of the trowel and mor¬ 
tar, while the former were occupied in devising 
plans for building. These brotherhoods of high 
artists soon won great esteem, and many privileges 
and franchises were conceded to them by the munic¬ 
ipal authorities among whom they practiced their 
profession. Their places of assembly were called 
Lodges, and the members took the name of Free¬ 
masons . Their patron* saint was St. John the Bap¬ 
tist, who was honored by them as the mediator 
between the old and the new covenants, and the 
first martyr of the Christian religion. Such was 
the beginning of the brotherhoods of Masons in 
Germany. 

The most important event in the cultivation and 
spread of Masonic art on the continent of Europe 
was that which occurred at the citv of Strasburg in 
70 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


Germany, when Erwin of Steinbach, the archi¬ 
tect of the cathedral, summoned a great number of 
Master-builders out of Germany, England and 
Italy, and in the year 1275 established a code of 
regulations and organized the fraternity of Free¬ 
masons after the mode which had been adopted 
three hundred and fifty years before by the English 
Masons at the city of York. 1 Three grades of 
Workmen were recognized—Masters, Fellow 
Crafts and Apprenticesand words, signs and grips 
were created as modes of recognition to be used 
by the members of the fraternity, a part of which 
was borrowed from the English Masons. Finally, 
ceremonies of initiation were invented, which were 
of a symbolic character, and concealed under their 
symbolism profound doctrines of philosophy, re¬ 
ligion and architecture. Lodges were then estab¬ 
lished in many of the cities of Germany, all of which 
fraternized with each other. They admitted many 
eminent persons, and especially ecclesiastics, who 
were not Operative Masons, but who gave to them 
their patronage and protection. 2 A Grand Lodge 
was established at the city of Strasburg, and Erwin 
of Steinbach was elected their presiding officer, or 
Grand Master. These fraternities or associations 
became at once very popular. Many of the poten¬ 
tates of Europe conceded to them considerable pow¬ 
ers of jurisdiction, such as would enable them to 
preserve the most rigid system in matters pertaining 
to building, and would facilitate them in bringing 
workmen together at any required point. They 


1 See page 64, first paragraph. 

2 Adopted later by the English Fraternities. See page 65. 

71 



FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


continued to exist without interruption until 1707, 
when a decree of the Imperial Diet at Ratisbon dis¬ 
solved the connection of the Lodges of Germany 
with the Grand Lodge of Strasburg, because that 
city had in 1687 passed into the power of the French. 
The head being now lost, the subordinate bodies 
began rapidly to decline, and in 1731, by an imperial 
edict of Charles I., nearly all the Lodges in Germany 
were dissolved, and lost sight of until the restora¬ 
tion of the Order in the eighteenth century, through 
the English Fraternity. 


FRANCE. 

In the beginning of the tenth century a Fraternity 
of Architects was founded in France, and was sim¬ 
ilar to that of their German brethren. Originating 
like them, from the cloisters, and from the employ¬ 
ment of laymen by the monkish architects, the con¬ 
nection between the Masons of France and the 
Roman Colleges of Artificers was more intimate 
and direct than that of the Germans, because of the 
early and very general occupation of Gaul by the 
Roman legions; but the French organizations did 
not materially dififer from the Germans. Protected 
by popes and princes, the Masons were engaged 
under ecclesiastical patronage in the construction of 
religious edifices. The principal seat of the French 
Fraternity was at Como, a city of Lombardy, from 
where the Lodges were disseminated over the king¬ 
dom, and who passed from country to country and 
from city to city under the name of “Traveling 
Freemasons.” In the beginning of the sixteenth 
century the necessity for their employment in fur- 
72 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


ther construction of religious edifices having ceased, 
the fraternity began to decline, and finally in the 
year 1539 they were dissolved by an edict of Fran¬ 
cis I.,’king of France, and ceased to exist as a rec¬ 
ognized system until its revival in the eighteenth 
century, through the English Fraternity. 

ITALY. 

In Italy the Association of Architects never en¬ 
tirely ceased to exist, but the greater number of 
them became connected with the fraternities of 
France at Como, and were lost sight of. 


73 



FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


Conclusion. 

We find that the building corporations of the 
Middle Ages—coming from the Roman Colleges of 
Architects, as in England , 1 in France , 2 in Italy , 3 
and in Germany , 4 from the cloistered brother¬ 
hoods of monks—devoted themselves principally to 
the construction of religious edifices. They con¬ 
sisted mainly of architects and skillful operatives, 
controlled by the highest principles of their art. 
They were in possession of important professional 
secrets, were actuated by deep sentiments of relig¬ 
ious devotion, and united with themselves in their 
labors men of learning, wealth and influence . 5 They 
assumed from the very first the name of Free-Ma- 
sons . 6 Subsequently, in the beginning of the eigh¬ 
teenth century, they threw off the operative element 
of their institution, and adopting an entirely specu¬ 
lative character, they became the Freemasons of the 
present day. The best authorities of to-day advance 
the theory that “Freemasonry is the successor, with 
certainty, of the Building Corporations of the Mid¬ 
dle Ages, and through them, with less certainty, but 
with great probability, of the Roman Colleges of 
Artificers. Its connection with the Temple of Solo¬ 
mon as its birthplace may have been accidental—a 
mere arbitrary selection by its inventors, and bears, 
therefore, only an allegorical meaning; or it may be 
historical.” As a brotherhood, composed of Sym¬ 
bolic Masters and Fellows and Apprentices, derived 


4 See page 68. 

5 See pages 65 and 71. 

6 See pages 61 and 70. 

74 


1 See page 62. 

2 See page 72. 

3 See page 73. 



FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


from an association of Operative Masters, Fellows 
and Apprentices—those building spiritual temples 
as those built material ones— its age may not far 
exceed six hundred 1 years; but as a secret associa¬ 
tion, containing within itself the symbolic expression 
of a religious idea, it connects itself with all the 
ancient Mysteries, which with similar secrecy gave 
the same symbolic expression to the same religious 
idea. These Mysteries were not the cradle of Free¬ 
masonry; they were only its analogues. In all 
places where these ancient religious and mystical 
rites were celebrated, we find the same teachings 
of eternal life inculcated by the representation of 
an imaginary death and the resurrection of some 
cherished being, either the object of esteem as a 
hero, or of devotion as a god. And it is this legend, 
and this legend alone, that connects speculative 
Freemasonry with the ancient Mysteries of Greece, 
of Syria and of Egypt. 

There is no doubt that all Mysteries had one com¬ 
mon source, perhaps some ancient body of priests; 
and no doubt Freemasonry has derived its legend, 
its symbolic mode of instruction, and the lesson for 
which that instruction was intended, either directly 
or indirectly, from the same source. And, if we 
would respect the axioms of historical science, we 
must say that the body came out of the Middle 
Ages, but that its spirit is to be traced to a far 
remoter period. 

The analogy of the legends of the ancient Mys¬ 
teries and that of the present form of Freemasonry 
must at once be apparent, and the best historians of 


1 See page 70, last paragraph. 

75 



FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


the day, even without documentary evidence, view 
the Temple of Jerusalem and the Masonic traditions 
connected with it as a part of the great allegory of 
Masonry. 

The Masonic organization has been moulded 
into a form closely connected with all the events and 
characteristics of the Solomonic temples, so that 
now almost all the symbolism of Freemasonry rests 
upon or is derived from the ‘‘House of the Lord” 
at Jerusalem. So closely are the two connected 
that to attempt to separate the one from the other 
would be fatal to the further existence of Freema¬ 
sonry. Each lodge is and must be a symbol of the 
Jewish temple, each Master in the chair a repre¬ 
sentation of the Jewish king, and every Mason a 
personification of the Jewish workman. 


Note.— If the reader will review these subjects in the order 
named and pages given below, he will find that there are suffi¬ 
cient grounds for the above conclusion of the origin, growth 
and present form of Freemasonry as traced through the Ancient 
Mysteries, Building of King Solomon’s Temple, Roman Colleges 
of Artificers, Building Corporations of the Middle Ages, and 
the adoption of Speculative Masonry or present form of Free¬ 
masonry. 

The commencement of each subject will be designated by a 
Star ☆, ending with ☆ ☆ 

Ancient Mysteries, pages 4 and 12. 

Building of King Solomon’s Temple, pages 41 and 57. 

Roman Colleges of Artificers, page 59. 

Building Corporations of the Middle Ages, page 62. 

Speculative Masonry, page 65. 


76 



FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


Degrees of Freemasonry. 

ENTERED APPRENTICE. 

The first degree of Freemasonry in all the rites 
is that of Entered Apprentice. Like the lesser mys¬ 
teries of the ancient initiations, it is a primary de¬ 
gree intended to prepare the candidate for the 
higher and fuller instructions of the succeeding 
degrees. It is therefore, although supplying no 
valuable historical infoi mation, replete in its lecture 
with instructions on the internal structure of the 
Order, and is typical of youth; 

FELLOW CRAFT. \ 

The second degree of Freemasonry in all the 
rites is that of the Fellow Craft. Like the degree 
of Apprentice, it is only preparatory to the higher 
initiation of the Master; and yet it differs essen¬ 
tially from it in its symbolism. For as the first de¬ 
gree was typical of youth, the second is supposed to 
represent the stage of manhood, and hence the 
acquisition of science is made its prominent charac¬ 
teristic. While the former is directed in all its sym¬ 
bols and allegorical ceremonies to the purification 
of the heart, the latter is intended by its lessons to 
cultivate the reasoning faculties and improve the 
intellectual powers. 

MASTER MASON. 

In all the rites of Masonry, no matter how vari¬ 
ant may be their organization in the high degrees, 
the Master Mason constitutes the third degree. 

77 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


Masonic historians have found much difficulty in 
settling the question as to the time of the invention 
and composition of the degree. The theory that 
at the building of the temple of Jerusalem the 
Craft were divided into three or even more 
degrees, being only a symbolic myth, must be 
discarded in any historical discussion of the 
subject. The real question at issue is, whether the 
Master Mason’s degree, as a degree, was in exist¬ 
ence among the operative Freemasons before the 
eighteenth century, or whether we owe it to the 
Revivalists of 1717, and documentary evidence is 
yet wanting to settle the precise time of its compo¬ 
sition,, as we now have it. It was originally called 
the summit of Ancient Craft Masonry. But under 
the present organization the degree is actually in¬ 
complete, because it needs a complement that is only 
to be supplied in a higher one. Hence its symbol¬ 
ism is necessarily restricted, in its mutilated form, 
to the first temple and the present life, although it 
gives assurance of a future one. 

The whole system of Craft Masonry is intended 
to present the symbolic idea of man passing through 
the pilgrimage of life. The Entered Apprentice 
Mason is taught those elementary instructions 
which are to fit him for further advancement in his 
profession, just as the youth is supplied with that 
rudimentary education which is to prepare him for 
the active duties of life; as a Fellow Craft he is 
directed to continue his investigations in the sci¬ 
ence of the institution and to labor diligently in the 
tasks it prescribes, just as the man is required to 
enlarge his mind by the acquisition of new ideas, 
and to extend his usefulness to his fellow-creatures; 

78 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 

but as a Master Mason he is taught the last, the 
most important, and the most necessary of truths, 
that having been faithful to all his trusts, he is at 
last to die, and to receive the reward of his fidelity. 
It was the single object of all the ancient rites and 
mysteries, practiced in the very bosom of pagan 
darkness, shining as a solitary beacon to all that 
surrounding gloom, and cheering the philosopher 
in his weary pilgrimage of life, to teach the immor¬ 
tality of the soul. This is still the great design of 
the Third Degree of Masonry. 

MARK MASTER. 

Mark Master is the fourth degree of the Ameri¬ 
can rite. The traditions of the degree make it 
of great historical importance, as we are informed 
that at the building of the temple each Operative 
Mason was distinguished by his mark, and the dis¬ 
order and confusion that might otherwise have at¬ 
tended so immense an undertaking was completely 
prevented. Not less useful is it in its symbolical 
signification. It teaches us that we should dis¬ 
charge all the duties of our several stations with 
precision and punctuality; that the work of our 
hands and the thoughts of our hearts should be 
good and true, not sinful and defective, not unfin¬ 
ished and imperfect, but such as the Great Over¬ 
seer and Judge of heaven and earth will see fit to 
approve as a worthy oblation from his creatures. 
It holds forth to the desponding the encouraging 
thought that although our motives may sometimes 
be misinterpreted by our erring fellow-mortals, 
our attainments be underrated and our reputations 
79 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


be traduced by the envious and the malicious, there 
is One, at least, who sees not with the eyes of men, 
but may yet make the stone which the builders 
rejected the head of the corner. 


PAST MASTER. 

The conferring of this degree, which has no his¬ 
torical connection with the rest of the degrees in 
a chapter, arises from the following circumstances. 
Originally, when Chapters of Royal Arch Masonry 
were under the government of Lodges, in which the 
degree was there always conferred, it was part of 
the Regulations that no one could receive the Royal 
Arch degree unless he had previously presided in 
the Lodge as Master. When the Chapters became 
independent the regulation could not be abolished, 
for that would have been an innovation. The diffi¬ 
culty has therefore been obviated by making every 
candidate for the degree of Royal Arch a Past Mas¬ 
ter before his exaltation. 


MOST EXCELLENT MASTER. 

Most Excellent Master, the sixth degree in the 
York rite. Its history refers to the dedication of 
the temple of King Solomon, who is represented 
by its presiding officer under the title of Most Ex¬ 
cellent. It is peculiarly American, being practiced 
in no other country. It was the invention of Webb, 
who organized the Capitular system of Masonry 
as it exists in this country, and established the sys¬ 
tem of lectures which is the foundation of all subse¬ 
quent systems taught in America. 

80 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


ROYAL ARCH. 

If we except the Master’s, there is no other de¬ 
gree in Masonry that has been so extensively dif¬ 
fused, or is as important in its historical and sym¬ 
bolical import, as the Royal Arch, or, as it has 
been called on account of its sublime significance, 
the “Holy Royal Arch,” the root, the heart and 
marrow of Masonry. The Master’s degree in its 
symbolic signification is imperfect and unfinished in 
its history, and, terminating abruptly in its symbol¬ 
ism, it leaves the mind still waiting for something 
that is necessary to its completeness. This de¬ 
ficiency is supplied by the Royal Arch degree. 
There was a time undoubtedly when the Royal 
Arch did not exist as an independent and dis¬ 
tinctive degree, but was a complementary part of 
the Master’s degree, to which it gave a necessary 
completion, and its existence as an independent and 
distinctive degree dates at a comparatively modern 
period. In the year 1770 Thomas Dunckerly, who 
had been authorized by the Constitutional Grand 
Lodge, or the “Moderns,” which was organized in 
1717, to inaugurate a new system of lectures, es¬ 
tablished the independent degree of Royal Arch for 
the Modern Masons, and it was adopted by them 
in 1776. At the union of the two Grand Lodges 
in 1813 it was formally and officially recognized 
as a part of Ancient Craft Masonry, and so it has 
ever since remained. In America the history of the 
degree followed that of the British system. As 
most of the American lodges derived their war¬ 
rants from the so-called “Grand Lodge of Ancient 
81 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


York Masons/' 1 the Royal Arch must have been 
introduced at the time of their constitution. The 
. government of the degree was for a long time under 
the control of distinct bodies called Grand Chap¬ 
ters. In America the first Grand Chapter was 
formed in the year 1798. The true symbolism 
of the Royal Arch system is founded on the discov¬ 
ery of the “Lost Word." That word is, in Ma¬ 
sonry, the symbol of truth. This, truth, which 
Masonry makes the great object of its investiga¬ 
tions, is not the mere truth of science or the truth 
of history, but it is the more important truth which 
is synonymous with the knowledge of the nature 
of God, that truth which is embraced in the sacred 
omnific name, including in its signification His 
eternal present, past and future existence, and to 
which He himself alluded when He declared to 
Moses, “I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and 
unto Jacob by the name of God Almighty; but by 
my name Jehovah was I not known unto them." 
The discovery of the truth is, then, the essential 
symbolism of the Royal Arch degree. 


Captivity. 

The historical connection between the building 
and dedication of the first temple, as found in the 
Master’s and Most Excellent degrees, its destruc¬ 
tion, and that subsequent part which symbolizes 
the building of the second, there is an interval 
in the ceremonials of the Royal Arch degree. 
This interval represents the time passed in the 


1 See page 67. 


82 



FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


captivity of the Jews at Babylon. In 626 B. C. 
the empire and city of Babylon was conquered 
by Nabopolassar, a trusted Assyrian general of 
King Sarsacus of Assyria. He was born of 
a nomadic race and his home was in the Cau¬ 
casian mountains. He turned traitor after be¬ 
coming viceroy of Babylon, and joined forces 
with Cyaxares, king of Media, and overthrew the 
Assyrians. The empire was broken up and each 
of the confederates took his allotted portion. As¬ 
syria proper fell to the Medes, and Nabopolassar 
received the kingdom of Babylon, to which were 
annexed Susiana on the east, and the valley of the 
Euphrates and the whole of Syria on the west. 

In the year 610 B. C. Pharaoh Necho of Egypt 
invades Syria and captures Jerusalem, and makes 
Jehoiakim king of Judah. Nabopolassar, alarmed 
by the loss of Syria, determines to recover what 
Necho has taken from him. After the army was 
raised and equipped, however, the aged king found 
himself unable to conduct the expedition, and so 
the command was given to his son Nebuchadnez¬ 
zar. The prince pushed boldly into upper Syria, 
where the Egyptians had established themselves 
in full force to hold the country, and completely 
routed them. Every vestige of Egyptian resistance 
melted away. Proceeding towards the west, he 
paused for a short time in Palestine, where he re¬ 
ceived the submission ofjehoiakim, whom Pharaoh 
Necho had set up, and then continued his triumph¬ 
ant course to the gateway of Egypt. It was 
during this expedition, in the year 606 B. C., that 
Daniel and his friends were made captives at Jeru¬ 
salem and taken to Babylon, with many of the 

83 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


sacred vessels. And from this date the principal 
computation of the seventy years of captivity 
begins. 

Nebuchadnezzar while at the gateway of Egypt 
receives news of his father's death, and, without 
delay, he, fearing that some rival might usurp the 
throne of Babylon, gave orders for his army to 
retrace its course into upper Syria, and himself, 
with a detachment, made all speed by the nearest 
route across the desert to the capital. Upon his 
arrival he was given a triumphant reception, and 
was peacefully established on the throne of the 
empire. His accession, in 604 B. C., marks the era 
of Babylonian greatness, before whose victorious 
armies many nations fell. At times insurrections 
would break forth. Among the first and most im¬ 
portant was the revolt of Tyre, the chief city of 
the Phoenicians. About the same time Jehoiakim, 
king of Judah—doubtless < Ming to mind that he 
owed his own sovereignty to Pharaoh Necho, the 
rival king of Babylon, and believing that the Egyp¬ 
tians would come to his aid—revolted and took up 
arms. It was to punish these Phoenicians and Jew¬ 
ish rebels that Nebuchadnezzar undertook the first 
great campaign after his accession. He invested 
Tyre, but that strong city proved for a long time 
impregnable. So the king, without desisting from 
the siege, divided his forces and with one division 
proceeded against Jerusalem. To the last moment 
Jehoiakim relied upon the Egyptians to come to 
his aid, but the Pharaoh held aloof, and Jehoiakim 
was' left to his fate. He made his submission to 
Nebuchadnezzar, who deliberately put him to death, 
and he was “buried with the burial of an ass, drawn 
84 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.” For 
the time being, the Babylonian king conferred the 
crown of Judah upon Jehoiachin, son of the recent 
ruler; but he soon fell under the suspicion of treach¬ 
ery, was deposed and taken captive to Babylon, 
thus making way for Zedekiah, who was put upon 
the Jewish throne. For some reason the Jewish 
people had come to prefer the Egyptian to Baby¬ 
lonian masters. Perhaps they hoped ultimately to 
throw off all mastery and become independent, as 
in the days of David. At any rate, Zedekiah, after 
having kept his faith with Nebuchadnezzar for 
eight years, became at heart disloyal, and in 588 
B. C. entered into an intrigue with Egypt against 
the Babylonians. When Nebuchadnezzar heard of 
the revolt, he marched with his host against the 
city of the Jews, and Jerusalem fell. The city was 
leveled with the ground, the temple pillaged and 
burned, and the inhabitants carried captive to Bab¬ 
ylon. The state of Judah was extinguished. Ged- 
aliah* was appointed by Nebuchadnezzar to rule 
over the ruins of Palestine, among which Jeremiah 
sat weeping. That captivity lasted for fifty-two 
years, and is commemorated in the Royal Arch 
degree. It was a part of the “seventy years’ captiv¬ 
ity” of the Jews, which was foretold by the prophet 
Jeremiah, the beginning of which, however, as has 
been mentioned, commenced eighteen years before. 

Among the prisoners of distinction was the high 
priest and the priest that was next to him, with the 
three rulers that guarded the temple, the eunuch 
who was over the armed men, seven friends of Zed¬ 
ekiah, his scribe and two other rulers. Zedekiah 
the king attempted to escape previous to the termi- 
85 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 



nation of the siege, but was pursued, captured, and 
carried to the headquarters of Nebuchadnezzar, 
who was then at Riblah,* where, having first been 
compelled to behold the slaughter of his children, 
his eyes were put out, and he was conducted in 
chains to Babylon. On the arrival of the captives 


CAPTIVE JEWS LED INTO BABYLONIA. 

at Babylon they do not appear to have been sub¬ 
jected to the extreme rigors of slavery. They were 
distributed into the various part of the empire, some 
remaining in the city, while others were sent into 
the provinces. They were permitted to retain their 
personal property and even to purchase lands and 
erect houses. Their civil and religious government 
86 











FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


was not utterly destroyed, for they kept up a regular 
succession of kings and high priests. Some of the 
principal captives were advanced to offices of dig¬ 
nity and power in the royal palace, and were per¬ 
mitted to share in the councils of state. 

Jehoiachin, who was the -first king of Judea car¬ 
ried captive to Babylon, was succeeded by his son 
Shealtiel, and he by his son Zerubbabel, who was 
the head of the captivity or nominal prince of Judea 
at the close of the captivity. Jehosadek was the 
high priest carried by Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon, 
where he died during the captivity and was suc¬ 
ceeded by his eldest son, Joshua. 

Babylon the Great, as the prophet Daniel calls it, 
was situated 475 miles in a nearly easterly direction 
from Jerusalem. It stood in the midst of a large 
and fertile plain on each side of the river Euphra¬ 
tes, which ran through it from north to south, the 
original foundation of which was Babel. Babel 
was also the name of a lofty tower, which the de¬ 
scendants of Noah began to build, among whom 
Nimrod was a leader, about one hundred and twenty 
years after the flood, so called because God there 
confounded the language of those who were em¬ 
ployed in the undertaking (Gen. x. 10; xi. 9). Their 
object in building the city and tower was to con¬ 
centrate the population and the dominion at that 
spot; and as this was contrary to the divine pur¬ 
pose of replenishing the earth with inhabitants, and 
betrayed an ungodly and perhaps idolatrous dispo¬ 
sition, God frustrated their designs by miraculously 
giving to dififerent portions of the people different 
languages or different modes of pronunciation and 
divergent dialects of the original language of man, 

87 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 



thus causing them to disperse over the globe 
(Acts ii. i-ii). The tower was apparently left 
incomplete, but the foundation of the city was 
probably laid, and a portion no doubt of the 
builders continued to dwell there. The place 
became afterwards the celebrated city of Bay- 
ylon. It has been supposed that the Tower of 


BABYLON. 

Babel was afterwards finished and called the Tower 
of Belus within the city of Babylon. Herodotus 
visited this tower, and describes it as a square pyra¬ 
mid, measuring half a mile in circumference at 
the base; from this rose eight towers, one above 
another, gradually decreasing to the summit, which 
was reached by a broad road winding up around 
the outside. This tower was used foi* astronomical 
purposes, but was chiefly devoted to the worship 
of Bel, whose temple contained immense treasures, 
88 













FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


including several statues of massive gold, one of 
which was forty feet in height. Here were de¬ 
posited the sacred' golden vessels brought from 
Jerusalem. Babylon reached the summit of her 
greatness and splendor under Nebuchadnezzar, the 
son and sucessor of Nabopolassar. The city was 
surrounded with walls which were eighty-seven feet 
thick, three hundred and fifty feet in height and 
sixty miles in compass. These were all built of 
large bricks cemented together with bitumen. Ex¬ 
terior to the walls was a wide and deep trench lined 
with the same material. Twenty-five gates on each 
side made of solid brass gave admission to the city. 
From each of these gates proceeded a wide street 
fifteen miles in length, and the whole was separated 
by means of smaller divisions, and contained 676 
squares, each of which was two miles and a quarter 
in circumference. Two hundred and fifty towers 
placed upon the walls afiforded the means of addi¬ 
tional strength and protection. Within this im¬ 
mense circuit were to be found palaces and temples 
and other edifices of the utmost magnificence, which 
have caused the wealth, the luxury and the splen¬ 
dor of Babylon to become a favorite theme of the 
historians of antiquity. It is scarcely too much to 
say that but for Nebuchadnezzar the Babylonians 
would have had no place in history. At any rate, 
their actual place is owing almost entirely to this 
prince, who to the military talents of an able gen¬ 
eral added a grandeur of artistic conception and 
a skill in construction which place him on a par 
with the greatest builders of antiquity. After he 
captured Jerusalem and burned the great Temple 
of Solomon and carried away the Jews as captives 
89 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


to Babylon, he also took Tyre and conquered Egypt, 
and became without doubt the most powerful mon¬ 
arch of his time. He promoted the Hebrew prophet 
Daniel to the second place in the kingdom. He died 
in 562 B. C., and was succeeded by his son, Evil- 
Merodach, who reigned only two years. (For an 
account of Nebuchadnezzar’s character, his marvel¬ 
ous experience, his loss of reason, and his restora¬ 
tion, the reader is referred to the Book of Daniel.) 
Nabonadius ascended the throne in 555 B. C., as 
the sixth king in the line of Nabopolassar, and ap¬ 
pears to have shared the royal power with his son 
Belshazzar,* whose mother was the daughter of 
Nebuchadnezzar. 

The location of Babylon gave her to a great ex¬ 
tent the control of the traffic, by the Euphrates and 
by caravans, between central Asia and Arabia and 
Egypt; and into her lap flowed, either through con¬ 
quest or commerce, the wealth of almost all known 
lands. In consequence of the opulence and luxury 
of the inhabitants, corruptness and licentiousness 
of manners and morals were carried to a frightful 
extreme. 


Termination of the Captivity. 

In the year 538 B. C., Cyrus, king of Persia, a 
great conqueror, who had reduced nearly all Asia, 
crossed the Euphrates and laid siege to Babylon, 
which he took after two years by diverting the 
course of the river Euphrates from its channel by 
digging a canal, which ran west of the city, and car¬ 
ried off the superfluous water of the Euphrates into 
Lake Nitocris, which by this means was rendered 
90 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


so shallow that his soldiers were able to penetrate 
along its bed into the city. He made his successful 
assault on a night when the whole city, relying on 
the strength of the walls, had given themselves up 



CYRUS THE GREAT. 


to the riot and debauchery of a grand festival and 
the king and his nobles were reveling at a splendid 
entertainment. Prince Belshazzar and his nobles 
were slain at their banquet, and the dawn found the 
victorious Persians in complete possession of the 
city. Nabonadius, the Babylonian king, was at Bor- 
91 








FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 



sippa with part of his army, where he surrendered 
to Cyrus under honorable terms, Cyrus bestowing 
on the dethroned king the governorship of the 
province of Carmania. Cyrus constitutes his uncle 
“Darius the Median”* king of Babylon, who 
reigned two years till the time of his death. During 


CAPTURE OF BABYLON. 

his reign Daniel was cast into the lions’ den (Dan. 
vi.). In 536 B. C., Cyrus succeeded to the whole 
empire, and in the first year of his reign the Jewish 
captivity terminated. Cyrus, from his conversa¬ 
tions with Daniel and other Jewish captives of 
learning and piety, as well as from the perusal of 
their sacred books, more especially the prophecies 
of Isaiah, had become imbued with a knowledge of 
92 







FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 

true religion, and made a public announcement to 
his subjects of his belief in the God “which the 
nations of the Israelites worshiped.” He was 
consequently impressed with an earnest desire 
to fulfill the prophetic declarations of which 
he was the subject and to rebuild the Temple of 
Jerusalem. Cyrus, therefore, issued a decree by 
which the Jews were permitted to return to Jeru¬ 
salem. Zerubbabel, the prince of Judah, was 
the grandson of that king (Jehoiachin) who 
had been deposed by Nebuchadnezzar and car¬ 
ried captive to Babylon. In him, therefore, was 
vested the regal authority, and on him, as such, 
the command of the returning captives was be¬ 
stowed by Cyrus, who on that occasion, according 
to Masonic tradition, presented to him the sword 
which Nebuchadnezzar had received from his 
grandfather. He also restored to him the greater 
part of the sacred vessels of the temple which had 
been carried away by Nebuchadnezzar, the re¬ 
mainder being brought back many years after by 
Ezra. 

Only 42,360 Israelites, exclusive of servants and 
slaves, accompanied Zerubbabel, out of whom he 
selected 7,000 of the most valiant, whom he placed 
as an advance guard at the head of the people. 
Their progress homeward was not altogether un¬ 
attended with danger; for tradition informs us 
that at the river Euphrates they were opposed by 
the Assyrians, who, incited by the temptation of the 
vast amount of golden vessels which they were 
carrying, drew up in hostile array, and, notwith¬ 
standing the remonstrances of the Jews and the 
edict of Cyrus, disputed their passage. Zerub- 
93 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


babel, however, repulsed the enemy with such ardor 
as to ensure a signal victory, most of the Assyrians 
having been slain in the battle or drowned in their 
attempt to cross the river in their retreat. The 
remainder of the journey was uninterrupted, and 
after a march of four months, which took them 
through the ruins of Rabbah* and old Tadmor,* or 
Palmyra of the desert, and the ruins of Damascus,* 
Zerubbabel arrived at Jerusalem with his follow¬ 
ers in the month of June, 535 B. C. 

During their captivity the Jews continued to 
practice the rites of Mansonry, and established, at 
various places, regular Lodges in Chaldea.* Ac¬ 
cording to the Rabbinical traditions, they insti¬ 
tuted their mystic fraternity at Naharda on the 
Euphrates, and Zerubbabel carried with him to 
Jerusalem all the secret knowledge which was the 
property of that institution, and established a sim¬ 
ilar fraternity in Judea. This coincides with and 
gives additional strength to the traditions of the 
Royal Arch degree. As soon as the pious pilgrims 
had arrived at Jerusalem and taken a needful rest 
of seven days, a tabernacle for the temporary pur¬ 
poses of divine worship was erected near the ruins 
of the ancient temple, and a council was called, in 
which Zerubbabel presided as king, Jeshua as high 
priest, and Haggai as scribe, or principal officer 
of state. It was there determined to commence the 
building of the second temple upon the same holy 
spot which had been occupied by the first, and the 
people contributed nearly a quarter of a million 
of dollars toward paying the expenses. 

Scarcely had the workmen well commenced their 
labors when they were interrupted by the Samari- 
94 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 



tans, who made application to be permitted to unite 
with them in the construction of the temple. But 
the Jews, who looked upon them as idolaters, re¬ 
fused to accept their services. The Samaritans in 
consequence became bitter enemies and so pre¬ 
vailed, by misrepresentations, with the ministers of 


REBUILDING JERUSALEM. 

Cyrus, as to cause them to put such obstructions in 
the way of construction of the edifice as to seriously 
impede its progress for several years. (See Cyrus, 
in Supplement.) 

In the seventh year after the restoration of the 
Jews, Cyrus, their friend and benefactor, died (530 
B. C.), and was succeeded by his son Cambyses 
(Ahasuerus), who, after a reign of eight years, died 
in Syria. Smerdis, called in Scripture Artaxerxes, 
then usurped the throne of Persia, and forbade the 
Jews to proceed with the work, and the temple re- 
95 









FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


mained in an unfinished state until his death, and 
the succession of Darius to the throne (521 B. C.). 
As in early life there had been a great intimacy be¬ 
tween this sovereign and Zerubbabel, the latter pro¬ 
ceeded to Babylon and obtained permission from the 
monarch to resume the labor. Zerubbabel returned 
to Jerusalem, and notwithstanding some further de¬ 
lays consequent upon the enmity of the neighboring 
nations, the second temple, or, as it may be called 
by way of distinction from the first, the Temple 
of Zerubbabel, was completed in the sixth year of 
the reign of Darius, 515 B. C., just twenty years 
after its commencement. It was then dedicated 
with all the solemnities that accompanied the dedi¬ 
cation of the first. (See Darius, king of Persia, 
in Supplement.) 

Zerubbabel was of the royal race of David, and 
called “Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah.” He was 
born in Babylon, as his name imports, but nothing 
further than what has been said is known of his 
history except that from him both Joseph and Mary 
descended. 

The general plan of this second temple was sim¬ 
ilar to that of the first, but it exceeded it in almost 
every dimension by one-third. The decorations of 
gold and other ornaments in the first temple must 
have far surpassed those bestowed upon the second, 
for we are told by Josephus (Antiq. xi. 4) that “the 
priests and Levites and elders of families were dis¬ 
consolate at seeing how much more sumptuous the 
old temple was than the one which, on account of 
their poverty, they had just been able to erect.” (See 
Jerusalem, in Supplement.) 

96 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


Design of Freemasonry. 

The “Design of Freemasonry” is neither charity 
nor almsgiving, nor the cultivation of social senti¬ 
ments ; for both of these are merely incidental to 
its organization. But it is the search after truth, 
and that truth is the unity of God and the immor¬ 
tality of the soul. The various degrees or grades of 
initiation represent the various stages through 
which the human mind passes, and the many dif¬ 
ficulties which men, individually and collectively, 
must encounter in their progress from ignorance 
to the acquisition of truth . That truth lies concealed 
in its symbols, and these, constituting, as they 
do, a picture language, or art speech, are made to 
carry a complete philosophy of the existence and 
relations of Deity, nature and man. 

Freemasonry is not only a universal science, 
but a world-wide religion, 1 and owes allegiance to 
no one creed, and can adopt no sectarian dogma, 
as such, without ceasing thereby to be Masonic. 
Drawn from the Kabbalah, 2 and taking the Jewish 
or Christian verbiage or symbols, it but discerns 
in them universal truths, which it recognizes in 
all other religions. Freemasonry is not Chris¬ 
tianity, nor a substitute for it. It is not intended 
to supersede it nor any other form of worship or 
system of faith. Its religion is that general one of 
nature and primitive revelations, handed down to 
us from some ancient and patriarchal priesthood, 
in which all men may agree and in which no men 


1 See Religion of Masonry, in Supplement. 

2 See Kabbalah, in Supplement. 

97 



FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


can differ. It inculcates the practice of virtue, 
but it supplies no scheme of redemption for sin. 
It points its disciples to the path of righteousness, 
but it does not claim to be “the way, the truth, 
and the life/' Neither persecution nor misrepre¬ 
sentation can ever destroy it. It may find no place 
in a generation of bigots; it may retire for a cen¬ 
tury; but again comes a Master Builder with the 
key to the “shut palace of the King,” throws open 
the blinds, lets in the light, kindles anew the fire 
on the sacred altar, clears away the rubbish, when 
behold! the tesselated pavement is as bright as 
when it first came from the quarries of truth, the 
jewels are of pure gold and brightens at the touch, 
and the great lights are undimmed and undecayed. 
“When the candidate is ready, the Master appears.” 
And yet men are so foolish as to imagine that 
they can destroy this heirloom of the ages; this 
heritage from the Immortals! No age is so dark 
as to quench entirely the light of the Lodge; no 
persecution so bloody as to blot out its votaries; 
no edict so lasting as to count one second on its 
Dial of Time! These, one and all, serve only to 
keep the people in darkness, and retard the reign 
of universal brotherhood. 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 



Commandery. 

Knights Templar. 

In the United States an assembly of Knights 
Templar is called a Commandery, and must con¬ 
sist of at least nine members. The government 
of Masonic Knights Templar in this country is 
vested, first, in Commanderies, which confer the 
degrees of Knight of the Red Cross, Knights 
Templar, and Knight of Malta. 

Commanderies are under the control of Grand 
Commanderies in States in which those bodies ex¬ 
ist. Where they do not, the warrants are derived 
directly from the Grand Encampment. The su¬ 
preme authority of the Order is exercised by the 
Grand Encampment of the United States, which 
meets triennially. The presiding officer is a Grand 
Master. 

The Ancient Order of Knights Templar was 
divided into Provinces, each of which was gov¬ 
erned by a Grand Preceptor or Grand Prior. 
These Provinces were fifteen in number and ex¬ 
tended from Jerusalem to England. There was no 
part of Europe, except the impoverished King- 
99 







FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


doms of Denmark, Sweden and Norway, where 
the Templars had not extended their possessions 
and their influence. 

In all the Provinces there were numerous temple- 
houses called Preceptories, presided over by a Pre¬ 
ceptor. Some of the houses were also called Com- 
manderies. The latter name has been adopted by 
the Masonic Templars of this country. 


Knight of the Red Cross. 

This degree, whose legend dates it far anterior 
to the Christian era and in the reign of Darius, 
has no analogy with the chivalric orders of knight¬ 
hood. It is purely Masonic and intimately con¬ 
nected with the Royal Arch degree. In this coun¬ 
try it is always conferred in a Commandery of 
Knights Templar and is given as a preliminary 
reception in that degree. The legend is as follows: 
“After the death of Cyrus, the Jews, who had been 
released by him from their captivity and permitted 
to return to Jerusalem for the purpose of rebuilding 
the temple, found themselves obstructed in the un¬ 
dertaking by the neighboring nations and especially 
by the Samaritans. Hereupon they sent an em¬ 
bassy, at the head of which was their prince, Zerub- 
babel, to Darius, the successor of Cyrus, to crave 
his interposition and protection. Zerubbabel, await¬ 
ing a favorable opportunity, succeeded not only in 
obtaining his request, but also in renewing the 
friendship which had formerly existed between the 
king and himself . 1 In commemoration of these 


1 See page 96, first paragraph. 


100 



FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


events, Darius is said to have instituted a new 
Order and called it the Knights of the East. They 
afterwards assumed their present name from the 
red cross borne in their banners.” 


Knights Templar. 

In the early centuries of our era the Semitic race 
sent forth to the nations two great streams of re¬ 
ligion ; and out of this contribution sprang the rival 
systems of Christianity and Mohammedanism. 
Each would be all or nothing. Each entered into 
combination with the political structure of states, 
and sought by means of the temporal power, or 
open proclamation of its own right, to control the 
institutions and sway the destinies of the world. 
In the struggle which ensued, the powers of primi¬ 
tive civilization were arrayed against each other 
under the Cross and the Crescent. In the issue 
Europe fell to Christ; Asia and Africa, to Mo¬ 
hammed. 


IOI 



FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


The Cross. 

Christianity Was Conceived in Abraham and Given 
Birth through Jesus Christ. 

Abraham,* originally Abram, was the founder 
of the Jewish nation, and was born at Ur, in Meso¬ 
potamia, in 1996 B. C. He marries Sarah, and 
in 1922 B. C. removes to Haran in Mesopotamia. 
A few years later they go to the land of Canaan, and 
there, in 1896 B. C., in their extreme old age, 1 Isaac 
is born. At the age of forty Isaac marries Re- 
bekah, and in 1836 B. C. twin sons were born whom 
they called Jacob and Esau. 

Jacob, in 1753 B. C., marries Leah and Rachel 
and has six sons and one daughter by Leah: Reu¬ 
ben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and 
Dinah; two sons by Rachel’s handmaid, Bilhah: 
Dan and Naphtali; two by Zilpah, Leah’s hand¬ 
maid: Gad and Asher; two by Rachel: Joseph and 
Benjamin. The twelve sons of Jacob became the 
immediate ancestors of the twelve tribes of Israel. 

In 1571 B. C. there came into the world that 
great lawgiver, Moses, the first prophet of Israel. 
He was the son of Amram and Jochebed, of the 
tribe of Levi, and the youngest brother of Miriam 
and Aaron. The name of Moses is one of the great¬ 
est in history. He organized the Hebrew people; 
he formed the Hebrew character; and the influence 
which the Hebrew nation has exercised on the civ¬ 
ilization of mankind, by being through many cen¬ 
turies the bearer of the monotheistic idea, can 
hardly be overestimated. For many generations 
the Jews had lived in the most abject thralldom; 

1 See page 20, first paragraph. 

102 



FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


they had lost all feeling of independence and self- 
confidence, and the peculiarities of their race were 
contaminated and perverted, instead of having been 
developed into a national character; they were ut¬ 
terly unfit for the conquest of a country, for the 
organization of a state, and for the part they were 
destined to play in history. 

According to the Biblical narrative (Acts vii.), 
Moses was forty years old when he fled from 
Egypt into Arabia, eighty when he returned and 
led the march across the Red Sea to Sinai, and 
120 when he died on Mount Nebo. Under his 
leadership the Hebrew people, during their forty 
years of penal wandering in the desert, took on the 
religious and moral character which enabled them 
to begin their career in Palestine. 

Judah, one of the twelve patriarchs, and the pro¬ 
genitor of the tribe of the same name, became so 
predominant in Palestine as to give its name to the 
kingdom of Judea and ultimately to the whole race 
of the descendants of Abraham (Jews). Judah 
appears to have exercised a kind of leadership 
among his brothers; it was he who persuaded them 
not to kill Joseph, but to sell him to the Midianites, 
and on the journey to Egypt to buy corn it was 
Judah who acted as spokesman for the whole com¬ 
pany. As such he offered himself to Joseph as a 
slave to ransom his half-brother Benjamin. He 
married a Canaanite woman, by whom he had three 
sons: Er, Onan and Shelah. Er and Onan died in 
the land of Canaan without issue. Tamar, his 
daughter-in-law, through deceit, bore him twin 
sons, Pharez and Zarah (Gen. xxxviii.), from the 
first of whom David, and ultimately Christ, were 
descended. Of the life of Judah in Egypt nothing 
103 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 

is known except that he was still living at the time 
of his father's death, and received that splendid 
blessing which foretold the glory of his lineage 
(Gen. xlix. 8-12). 

Judaism, the religious system and polity of the 



JESUS. 

Jews, as enjoined in the laws of Moses, became the 
basis of a spiritual or universal religion. 

“And she [Mary] shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt 
call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their 
sins” (Matt. i. 21; Luke i. 31-33). 

Jesus the Christ was born in Bethlehem, a small 
Judean town, already famous as the birthplace of 
104 



FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


King David, and about six miles south of Jerusa¬ 
lem. The home of his mother, Mary, was Nazareth 
in Galilee, but she had come to Bethlehem with her 
husband, Joseph, a descendant of David, in obe¬ 
dience to a decree of enrollment and taxation which 
seems to have required Joseph’s presence at the 
original home of his family. Mary is thought to 
have been, like Joseph, descended from the royal 
house of Judah. Jesus is supposed to have been 
born on the 25th of December, four years before the 
year 1 A. D. On the eighth day after his birth 
he was circumcised, and on the fortieth day he was 
taken to the temple, when the customary offerings 
of purification were made by his mother. The visit 
of certain “wise men,” or magians, who came 
probably from Persia, to the infant at Bethlehem, 
with gifts proper for a king, and the inquiries made 
by them previously at Jerusalem for a newly born 
king of the Jews, excited the jealousy of Herod 
the Great, then ruling over Judea and the neigh¬ 
boring territories under the protection of the Ro¬ 
mans, and he issued orders for a massacre of young 
children at Bethlehem. Joseph, being warned, took 
the young child and his mother by night and fled 
into Egypt in time to escape the destruction, where 
they remained until again warned of Herod’s 
death a short time after. Joseph seems to have 
intended to rear the child at Bethlehem (the 
city of David), but another warning caused him to 
return to Nazareth. Twelve years later Joseph 
and Mary took Jesus with them to Jerusalem to 
keep the Passover, and he then showed that he was 
already conscious of a divine mission. He lived 
at Nazareth, however, for eighteen years longer, 
105 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


and probably assisted Joseph at his trade, that of 
carpenter. Joseph is not mentioned again in the 
Gospels, and is supposed to have died before Christ 
entered on his public labors. 

When Jesus was about thirty years old, 
his kinsman, John, the son of Zacharias, began 
to announce the near approach of the kingdom 
of God and to call his countrymen to prepare 
for it by a moral reformation, and by accept¬ 
ing baptism at his hands as a sign of the re¬ 
mission of sin. Jesus appeared among the 
throngs which gathered about John the Bap¬ 
tist at the Jordan, and insisted on being baptized 
by him. After John had reluctantly administered 
the rite to one whom he felt by a kind of prophetic 
instinct, as it would seem, to be holier than himself, 
he was shown that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son 
of God, and he announced him as such to those 
about him. After his baptism a few of John’s dis¬ 
ciples attached themselves to Jesus, and accompa¬ 
nied him to Galilee. He then went to Jerusalem 
and began his public ministry and announced him¬ 
self to the heads of the nation there as a messen¬ 
ger of Heaven, by expelling from the temple court 
those who had been allowed to carry on traffic in 
it for the convenience of worshipers. One mem¬ 
ber of the Sanhedrim,* Nicodemus,* became at this 
time a secret adherent of the new prophet. For 
a few months Jesus carried on a work in Judea 
similar to that in which John the Baptist was en¬ 
gaged, and seemed to be co-operating with the lat¬ 
ter in the effort to bring about a national repent¬ 
ance. But ^s attempts were being made to create 
io 6 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


dissension between his followers and those of John, 
he retired to Galilee. 

. After John the Baptist was put to death by Herod 
Antipas, Governor of Galilee, Jesus began his sec¬ 
ond and final attempt to gain a hearing from the 
representatives of the nation at Jerusalem. He ap¬ 
peared somewhat suddenly at the feast of taber¬ 
nacles,* and by miracles and discourses, as well 
as by the angry opposition which he excited, he at 
least succeeded in awakening new interest in his 
movements, and fixing the attention of the nation 
upon himself during the rest of his career. For 
several years after this he carried on his teachings 
throughout Palestine, meeting with much opposi¬ 
tion and many trials and tribulations. The rulers 
began to fear his growing popularity and about 
the year 29, when he was returning to Bethany * 
from Jerusalem, he was betrayed by Judas, arrested 
and led back to the city for trial before the Sanhe¬ 
drim. The charge was blasphemy, but in the ab¬ 
sence of trustworthy witnesses he was virtually 
put under oath and required to criminate himself. 
When solemnly appealed to by the high priest, he 
not only avowed his Messiahship, but asserted that 
he was the Son of God and the future judge of 
the world. He was then taken before Pontius Pi¬ 
late, who gave the order for his death by crucifix¬ 
ion. He died in the act of commending his soul 
to God. The body was given by Pilate to Joseph* 
of Arimathea, and, aided by Nicodemus, he wrapped 
it in spices and laid it in a tomb prepared for him¬ 
self in a garden which he owned outside the walls. 
Jesus rose on the third day after his death in the 
body, which, though changed as to its mode of 
107 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


being, was the identical body which was crucified. 
He was seen often in different places and circum¬ 
stances by many witnesses. On the fortieth day 
after his resurrection, Jesus led the apostles out 
of Jerusalem towards Bethany and left them for 
the last time, not vanishing, as before, but passing 
visibly upward" till a cloud concealed him from 
sight. While they looked after him two angels 
brought them a message—that he should “so come 
in like manner.” 

Christianity, the religion founded by Jesus 
Christ, may be regarded as divisible into— 

(1) Historical Christianity, the facts and prin¬ 
ciples stated in the New Testament, especially those 
concerning the life, sufferings, death, resurrection, 
ascension and nature of Jesus, together with the 
subsequent development of the Christian Church, 
and the gradual embodiment in society of the prin¬ 
ciples inculcated in it. 

(2) Dogmatic Christianity, the systems of theo¬ 
logical doctrine founded on the New Testament. 
These systems differ with different churches, sects 
and schools. 

(3) Vital Christianity, the Spirit manifested by 
Jesus Christ in his life, and which he commanded 
his followers to imitate. 


108 




FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


The Crescent. 

Mohammedanism Was Conceived in Abraham and 
Given Birth through Mohammed. 

Abraham had only one son, Isaac, by his wife, 
Sarah, who was born in the year 1896 B. C. Four 
years after Isaac's birth, Ishmael, who was the 
son of Abraham by Sarah’s Egyptian handmaid, 
Hagar, as is related in Genesis xxi., was driven 
into the wilderness with his mother. “And he will 
be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, 
and every man’s hand against him; and he shall 
dwell in the presence of all his brethren” (Gen. 
xvi.). “Ishmael was blessed,” and had twelve 
sons that became “princes according to their na¬ 
tions. And they dwelt from Iiavelah to Shur, that 
is before Egypt as thou goest towards Assyria” 
(Gen. xxv.). “They had golden earrings, be¬ 
cause they were Ishmaelites”* (Judg. viii. 24). 
Ishmael died in the year 1773 B. C, “in the pres¬ 
ence of all his brethren, at the age of 137 years.” 
The Arabs regard him as their immediate ancestor. 

The legend of the people is as follows: When 
our first parents were driven out of Paradise, they 
wandered until they finally settled on the border 
of the great Arabian desert. Here they built a 
temple, the Kaaba, in exact imitation of that in 
which they had worshiped in the Garden of Eden. 
Ten generations later a flood swept that region 
and destroyed the frail building, so that no vestige 
remained. Ten generations later, in a fit of cruel 
jealousy, Sarah, the wife of the patriarch Abra¬ 
ham, caused him to drive out his handmaid, Hagar, 
109 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


and their son, Ishmael, and while wandering in the 
desert an angel revealed this site to Hagar, and 
she gave her thirsty son to drink of the refreshing 
waters of its well Zem-Zem. It was here, on ac¬ 
count of its goodly supply of water, the chief attrac¬ 
tion in locating an Oriental city, that a tribe of 
Amalekites came and founded the city of Mecca. 
They aided Ishmael in rebuilding the Kaaba, and to 
their assistance came the angel Gabriel, with a white 
stone from Paradise, which even to-day is to be 
found in the wall of the Kaaba, turned black by the 
devout kisses of sinful lips. 

In the sixth century of the present era the keeper 
of this sacred stone was one Abdallah, a very poor 
but noble man, of the tribe of Koreish, one of the 
most distinguished Arabian tribes; the guardian¬ 
ship of the Kaaba was hereditarily entrusted to it. 
But his family, Hashem, was poor. Abdallah died 
just before his first son was born. That son was 
called Mohammed, “The Praised,” and was born 
in Mecca in the year 570. In later years, when 
comparative deification of the prophet took place, 
there were added to the circumstances of his birth, 
legends similar to those of the other founders of 
great religions. It is said that as soon as he was 
born, he turned his eyes to the light and distinctly 
said, “God is great and I am his prophet,” the 
river Tigris overflowed its banks, the palace of 
King Chosroes toppled to the ground, the holy fires 
of Zoroaster that had burned for centuries were 
extinguished by the brighter light, and mules talked 
and sheep bowed to him when he went out. He lost 
his mother, Amena, when he was six years old, and 


no 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


was adopted a few years later by his uncle, Abu- 
Taleb, with whom he went to Syria; there he met 
an Arab monk, who informed his uncle of the fu¬ 
ture awaiting his nephew, and charged him to guard 
the boy with the greatest care. From that time 



THE PROPHET MOHAMMED. 


until his twentieth year he is scarcely heard of. 
In that year he served in the war against the Beni 
Kinanah tribe. In his twenty-fifth year he was a 
shepherd on the pasture-fields in the vicinity of 
Mecca. About this time he entered the employ of 
a wealthy widow, who was some fifteen years his 


hi 




FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


senior. This widow, Kadijah, employed him to look 
after her caravans, and his management of her 
affairs was attended with uniform success. On 
his return from a journey to Damascus, where he 
had met with greater success than ever, the exult¬ 
ant widow offered to marry him and pleaded her 
cause with such fervor and eloquence that the 
young man consented. In many respects this mar¬ 
riage was most important in its results. It at once 
placed Mohammed in a position of affluence and 
raised his rank equal to that of the influential tribe 
of the Koreish. Mohammed now gave up business 
and devoted himself to religious meditations. The 
religion of the Arabs at this time (595) was Sa- 
baism, a kind of idolatry or system of sun, moon 
and star worship, widely prevalent, not only in 
Arabia, but in Chaldea, Syria and Ethiopia. Idol¬ 
atry had overclouded the old Monotheism (one 
God) of the Arabs, and brought the religious in¬ 
stincts of the people into manifold confusion. Mo¬ 
hammed was surrounded by Jews, Christians and 
Jewish Christians; and in his journeys with the 
caravans had frequent opportunities of discussing 
religious questions with them. It is certain that he 
was far from satisfied with Judaism, Christianity 
or Sabaism, the popular religions of Arabia. The 
scenes of misery and immorality, and the utter spir¬ 
itual degradation of the entire people, made a vivid 
impression on his sensitive mind, and suggested 
that remedies should be found. 

In his fortieth year he received the first revela¬ 
tion concerning the new truth. He hastened to his 
beloved'wife, and, confiding to her what had hap¬ 
pened, fell into a severe paroxysm of epilepsy. He 


112 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


became subject to the most fearful mental torments. 
Hesitation and fear possessed him. In the end he 
overcame them, with the result that he felt him¬ 
self called upon to overthrow the worship of his 
countrymen, establish the belief in the unity of 
God, and that he was the one divinely appointed 
to preach it to the world. The evidence of trust¬ 
worthy historians goes to show that he was known 
for his kindness and gentleness, his honesty and 
truth, qualities that gained for him the surname 
of Al-Amin, “The True.” His progress was slow, 
his footsteps were dogged, his foes persecuted him, 
his faithful wife, Kadijah, dies, and once he was 
stoned and left for dead by the roadside. At this 
juncture help came from an unexpected quarter. 
The neighboring city of Medina was held by two 
tribes hostile to the people of Mecca, and they of¬ 
fered him and his converts asylum. At the dead of 
night and at the peril of his life he fled from his 
birthplace, and that day is celebrated in the Moham¬ 
medan calendar as the beginning of a new era. 
This took place in the year 622, and is called 
the Hegira. His flight became known and pursuers 
followed him. He hid in a cave three days and 
nights. Tradition loves to tell how a spider wove 
its web over the cave’s mouth, and some doves, 
ever after sacred, laid their eggs before the cave, 
so that the pursuers judged therefrom that none 
had entered the cave. Arrived at Medina, he or¬ 
ganized his followers. From that time a complete 
change came over him; the man who had been “as 
shy as a veiled virgin,” now became the apostle of 
war. With a small army of followers he overran 
Arabia, and in less than seven years his gleaming 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


sword had conquered every city of the land. Even 
Mecca fell before him, and he threw out the idols 
from the temple and consecrated it to the worship 
of Allah. Acknowledged was he now by the whole 
people as the prophet of God and as their king. 

His great gift is the Mohammedan Bible, the 
Koran, a book containing the messages of the 
prophet which were collected by his follower, Zeid, 
from records written on palm leaves, white stones, 
leather, the shoulder-blades of sheep and camels. 

Mohammedanism, the religion founded by Mo¬ 
hammed, or Mahomet, teaches, in opposition to the 
various idolatrous religions which it has succeeded 
in superseding, a strong theism (belief in God), 
essentially the same as taught by Judaism and 
Christianity, from which it was borrowed. “There 
is no God but God” is the principal tenet in Mo¬ 
hammedan dogmatics, and he has created the world 
and the immortal soul of man, whose life on earth 
he shall judge and reward or punish in a future 
state. But the further development of this idea, 
especially of the relation between God and man¬ 
kind, is narrow, fantastic and arbitrary. Before 
the almighty power of Allah the free will of man 
vanishes; Mohammedanism is fatalism. The Ko¬ 
ran acknowledges and encourages polygamy, and 
it exists in all Mohammedan countries, with all its 
deteriorating and weakening consequences, spirit¬ 
ual and bodily. 

Ten years after Mohammed had fled from Mecca, 
in the year 632, at the age of sixty-two, he made a 
pilgrimage thither from Medina with forty thou¬ 
sand Moslems, and there on a mountain, like Moses 
of old, he uttered the last words to the people, ex- 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


horting them chiefly to protect the weak, the poor, 
the women, and to abstain from usury. He was 
sick for some days, the result of a poison adminis¬ 
tered to him by a woman. As he lay dying, with 
his head resting on the lap of Ayesha, one of the 
numerous wives he had wedded after the death of 
Kadijah, she heard him murmuring, as she looked 
into his pale face and slowly glazing eyes, “No 

.the companions above.in Paradise.” 

She took his hand in hers, praying. When she let 
it sink it was cold, and he was dead. He left ten 
wives (of fourteen, which he had in all), but only 
one child, Fatima, the daughter of Kadi j ah, his first 
wife; and so long as Kadi j ah lived, Mohammed did 
not follow the practice usual among Arabs of tak¬ 
ing many wives. He was buried in the mosque at 
Medina, and at his tomb thousands of pilgrims 
gather every year. 

Islam is the Arabic name for the Mohammedan 
creed. Moslem is the name the professors of this 
creed give themselves. Saracens or Mussulmans, 
followers of Mohammed. 






FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 



The Conflict. 



Mutual hatred had long existed between the 
Christians and the Mohammedans. The latter 
aforetime had done incalculable damage to the pros¬ 
pects of the Cross. All that the missionaries and 
evangelists had accomplished in Arabia, Abyssinia, 
Egypt and northern Africa, had been eradicated 
by the followers of the prophet. The movement 
of the Mohammedans, westward through Africa 
and northward into Europe, in the eighth century, 
was answered by the counter movement of the 
Christians, eastward through Europe and into Asia, 
in the eleventh. The sword of the living Godfrey 
was crossed with that of the dead Taric. 

Previous to the opening of the conflict, however, 
and indirectly leading to it, Palestine had become 
the Mecca of pious pilgrims, who, from all parts 
of Christendom, threaded their weary way to the 
land made sacred by their Lord and Master, that 
they might do penance for their sins or quicken 
their zeal by visiting hallowed scenes. A great 
stimulus was given to these undertakings by the 
mother of Constantine, Plelena, who visited the 
Holy Land in A. D. 325, and in pious zeal used 
the immense wealth at her command in building 
altars, chapels and houses of prayer in places made 
• 116 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


historical by events in the Saviour’s life. She erect¬ 
ed the famous Church of the Nativity at Bethlehem, 
the city of His birth; built the Church of the Holy 
Sepulchre at Jerusalem, on the supposed site of His 
tomb; and laid the foundations of the Church of 
the Resurrection. Her industrious example natu¬ 
rally awakened new zeal for pilgrimage. Hence¬ 
forth, thousands upon thousands, princes and 
peasants, nobles and beggars, the devout and the 
mercenary, annually thronged the thoroughfares 
on their way to the “City of the Great King.” 

But while this was going on, Jerusalem, then 
under the control of the Roman Empire, was taken 
possession of in 637, by the soldiers of Islam, 
commanded by that famous Mohammedan chief¬ 
tain, Omar. He erected the mosque bearing his 
name, on the site of the temple of Solomon, and 
restored the enclosures of the temple—a tribute 
paid to King Solomon, whose faith, like Moham¬ 
med’s, recognized but one “Living and True God.” 
Owing to Omar’s tolerance, for a long period the 
Christians were undisturbed in their pilgrimages 
and devotions, but in 1073 Palestine was overrun 
and conquered by hordes of Seljook* Turks, who 
came out of the northeast through Khorassan and 
other provinces of Persia. They were more in the 
form of revolutionists than conquerors, as they 
were already the disciples of Islam. The Arabian 
Fatimite* governors were obliged to retire into 
Egypt. The Holy City fell under the dominion of 
Sultan Malek Shah and his viceroys, who instituted 
a high revel of violence and outrage against both 
Christians and Arabs. Infested by bands of lawless 
men, the roads to Jerusalem became no longer safe 
for pilgrims. They were robbed of their much or 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


little wealth; men were thrown into slavery; women 
were outraged; children were stolen or murdered, 
and although, doubtless, there were enthusiasts who 
courted these perils in the holy cause, yet the vast 
majority of Christendom were filled with grief and 
vengeance as returning pilgrims told the ghastly 
tale of pagan atrocities. 

In this state of affairs, when there was scarcely 
a home circle that was not saddened or bereaved 
by the brutal treatment of the pilgrims, Peter the 
Hermit, a monk and native of Amiens in France, 
having visited Palestine and witnessed the cruelty 
of the Turks, reported what he had seen to Pope 
Urban II., by whom encouraged, he traveled 
through Italy and France and began to preach the 
first Crusade. Peter had been educated in Paris 
and in Italy; had served in the army of Flanders, 
but gave up the military career and married; became 
a monk after the death of his wife, and finally a 
hermit. Possessed of no other power than the influ¬ 
ence of his character and his genius, this simple 
unshod monk, a man of mean aspect, clad in a 
coarse cassock, around which a rude rope served 
as a girdle, mounted on a mule, and holding a 
gleaming crucifix in his hand, rode from town to 
town and from province to province rehearsing the 
indignities heaped upon the innocent pilgrims; in 
graphic language he depicted' the scenes of blood 
of which he had been an eye-witness in the streets 
of Jerusalem, appealing in turn to the piety, the 
courage and the passions of his hearers. By his 
eloquence he fired the popular heart to go forth to 
redress the wrongs and rescue a desecrated tomb 
from the hands of the infidel. As a consequence 
118 



PREACHING THE CRUSADE. 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


of his impassioned harangues, such a wave of en¬ 
thusiasm for his enterprise surged throughout 


Christendom that the reigning powers felt its 
mighty swell, and in the year 1095, at the Council 








FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


of Clermont, Pope Urban II. espoused his cause 
and gave pontifical sanction to the first Crusade. 
Previous to the setting out of the true Crusade, 
four armies, if they may be so named, consisting 
of disorderly multitudes of the dregs of Christen¬ 
dom, had departed for Palestine. 

The eastern frontiers of France became the scene 
of the gathering. There ^Peter the Hermit, as the 
chief promoter of the enterprise, assumed the lead¬ 
ership of the host. Without adequate preparation, 
without suitable arms, without any appreciation of 
the dangers and difficulties to be encountered, the 
vast and tumultuous throng swept out of France 
and into Germany. The great sea of angry and ex¬ 
cited humanity overflowed the ordinary routes of 
travel, and spread devastation on every hand. The 
means of subsistence were quickly exhausted, and 
the multitudes began to prey on the countries 
through which they traversed. They swept on 
through the German territories like an army of 
devouring locusts, until through sheer waste of 
resources they were obliged to divide into smaller 
masses. One band, numbering about 20,000, com¬ 
manded by Walter the Penniless, a French knight, 
of Burgundy, pressed forward through Hungary 
and Bulgaria in the direction of Constantinople. 
The Bulgarians took up arms to defend their coun¬ 
try from destruction. The track of Walter and his 
army was marked with blood and fire. The Cru¬ 
saders were cut off day by day until, at the confines 
of the country-only--Walter and a few followers 
remained to make their way through the forests 
to Constantinople. 

Meanwhile the second division of the host, num- 


120 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


bering about 40,000 men, women and children, un¬ 
der the command of Peter the Hermit, pressed on 
in the same direction taken by Walter. They, too, 
were pursued and furiously attacked by the wild 
Bulgarians, who caused a general rout and slaugh¬ 
ter of thousands of their number. The remaining 
wretched, half-starved fugitives in time arrived at 
Constantinople, where, under the protection of 
Emperor Alexius, who had espoused the Crusade, 
the two united their forces, crossed the Bosphorus 
into Asia Minor, and encountered the Turks at 
Nice. There they were utterly routed and slaugh¬ 
tered; Walter the Penniless was killed and the re¬ 
maining remnant returned to Constantinople. A 
third rabble soon followed from Germany. A cer¬ 
tain monk named Godeschal, envious of the fame 
of Peter and Walter, preached the holy war through 
his native districts, and about 15,000 villagers and 
peasants flocked to his standard. They followed 
the same route as the others, and before the walls 
of Belgrade they were massacred by the Hunga¬ 
rians, almost to a man. 

In the meantime, the fourth and last division of 
the host gathered on the eastern confines of Ger¬ 
many. Perhaps no other such a detestable mass 
of vile humanity was seen before or since in the 
world. France sent her thieves; the Rhine prov¬ 
inces, their off scouring; the British Islands, their 
outlaws; and all the west, her pads and murderers. 
This delightful army of European refuse heaped 
up to the number of more than 200,000. A few 
ignorant nobles with their bands of retainers were 
merged in the common mass; but when it came to 
the election of leaders the choice fell on a goat and 


121 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


a goose. These ridiculous creatures were actually 
set forward as the divinely constituted agents by 
which the host was to be led to victory over the 
infidel Turks of Asia. The result was as revolting 
as the beginning was abominable. The superstitious 
herd fell upon the Jewish colonists in the cities of 
the Rhine and the Moselle, and began to rob and 
murder. The rabble pretended to see in the Jews 
only the enemies of Christ. In spite of the protests 
of the Romish Church, under whose call the Crusade 
had been begun, the Jews were massacred by thou¬ 
sands. When the ruffian hosts could find no further 
material to slaughter, the march was resumed from 
the Rhine to the Danube. The whole route was a 
scene of barbarous lust and licentiousness. The day 
of judgment, however, at last arrived. At the Dan¬ 
ube the Hungarian army was drawn up to dispute 
the progress of the invaders. The immense rabble 
was hemmed in and beaten back against the river. 
The tide of the Danube was red with the blood of the 
robbers. Very few escaped the vengeance of the 
Hungarians and the engulfing river. Thus perished 
the fourth and last of those fanatic multitudes that 
arose at the call of Peter the Hermit. Already 
more than a quarter of a million of human beings 
had been swallowed from sight before a regular 
army could be equipped and started in the wake 
of the popular tumult. Not a Christian soldier 
had thus far penetrated beyond the plain of Nice. 
Walter the Penniless was dead. The fame of Peter 
the Hermit was also at a discount, but the fever 
of Europe was in nowise cooled. It still remained 
for her soldiery to undertake by regular expedition 


122 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 

what her peasants and monks, her goose and her 
goat, had failed to accomplish. 

In the meantime the secular princes of the west, 
who attended the Council of Clermont and assumed 
the Cross, were busily engaged in preparing for the 
holy war. A vast army embracing all the chivalry 
of Europe, consisting of six grand divisions, set 
forth for Constantinople. Here they united their 
forces and then took up their march for the Holy 
City. Among those who were destined to distin¬ 
guish themselves as Crusaders, should be men¬ 
tioned, first of all, Godfrey of Bouillon, Duke of 
Lorraine. His reputation for piety, learning and 
courage was equal to that of the best prince of 
his age. In his father’s house Peter the Hermit 
had lived before he became a monk. In early life 
Godfrey took up arms and won high distinction as 
a soldier in many bloody fought battles. With no 
half-hearted purpose did he become a Crusader. 
No sacrifices were spared to secure the desired end. 
He sold or mortgaged all of his castles and estates, 
and with the money procured by the sale of his vast 
domains he raised and equipped a magnificent army 
of 90,000 men. It was he who led those from Ger¬ 
many and northern France. 

Raymond, Count of Toulouse, a second of the 
leaders, was a soldier by profession and had fought 
against the Mohammedans in Spain. He was 
known as one of the most valiant captains of his 
times. It was his saying that he had spent his 
youth fighting the followers of the false prophet 
in Europe, and would spend his old age in warring 
with them in Asia. Already aged, his white locks 
123 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


made him a conspicuous leader for those from 
southern France. 

Prince Bohemond, of Tarentum, Italy, who led 
the Italian force, was the tallest man in his army; 
he was full of passion and haughty pride; when he 
spoke, his hearers believed that eloquence had been 
his only study; when under arms, he might be sup¬ 
posed to have done nothing but wield the lance and 
sword. The deliverance of the tomb of Christ 
was not the object that induced him to assume the 
Cross; he hoped to win a kingdom before he should 
arrive at Jerusalem. After the fall of Antioch* 
his vain hopes were realized by his becoming the 
first Prince of Antioch. 

Hugh the Great, Count of Vermandois, led the 
French forces. He was a brother of King Philip 
of France. At home he was much admired for 
his brilliant qualities by the Court. He was brave, 
but easily overcome by flattery, and was wanting 
in perseverance in reverses. 

Robert, Duke of Normandy, who led the Norman 
forces, was the son of William the Conqueror. He 
had few noble qualities, but many reprehensible 
faults. His extravagance, weakness and incon¬ 
stancy caused him to be unpopular, and, in the end, 
reduced him to absolute poverty. 

Robert, Count of Flanders, was at the head of the 
Frisons and the Flemings, or Dutch forces. He em¬ 
barked in an expedition which procured for him 
the reputation of a bold knight, together with the 
surname of “The Lance and Sword” of the Chris¬ 
tians. 

All these leaders were celebrated for their ex¬ 
ploits, but no one amongst that vast army was more 
124 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 

worthy to attract the attention of posterity than 
the brave Tancred, from the island of Sicily, whose 
piety and friendship for his cousin, Prince Bohe- 
mond, under whom he served, led him into Asia. 
A stranger to all the motives and interests of policy, 
he acknowledged no other law but religion and 
honor, and was always ready to die in their cause. 



THE FIRST CRUSADE. 

He was made Prince of Tiberias, and finally died 
at Antioch in 1112. ‘ 

The forces thus gathered out of the prolific west 
numbered fully 600,000 warriors. Of these, 100,- 
000 were mounted knights, and the remainder, foot 
soldiers in armor. The mixed character of the 
throng was still preserved. Priest, matron and 
maid journeyed by the side of the warriors. At 
the head rode the austere Godfrey, the white-haired 

125 





FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


Raymond, and Peter the Hermit seated on a mule. 
This immense army pressed steadily forward, and 
after capturing Nice, Antioch and other cities on 
the way, this army, though greatly reduced in num¬ 
bers by privations and conflict, at length came upon 
the object of its ambition, Jerusalem, in the year 
1099. The city was taken on the 15th of July, after 
an obstinate siege of somewhat more than five 
weeks. Assault after assault was made upon the 
unyielding walls, only to be repulsed, and the jaded 
remnant of only 40,000 of what was once a vast 
army, were on the point of abandoning the under¬ 
taking, when Godfrey, looking up to Mount Olivet, 
beheld there a mighty horseman waving on high 
a buckler. “Behold,” cried the hero, “St. George 
comes again to our aid and makes a signal for us 
to enter the Holy City.” The effect was magical. 
The army, seized as if by an electric enthusiasm, 
made an irresistible charge, carried the walls, and 
Jerusalem was taken. History has remarked that 
the Christians entered Jerusalem on a Friday, at 
the hour of three in the afternoon; exactly the same 
day and hour at which Christ expired for the salva¬ 
tion of the human race. Among those who received 
the greatest congratulations by the victorious mul¬ 
titude was Peter the Hermit. The little fanatic 
monk was singled out as the greatest of all the 
human agencies by which the deliverance of Jeru¬ 
salem had been accomplished. Around him, clad in 
his woolen garment and mounted on his mule, the 
mediaeval Zealots gathered in enormous crowds, 
and did obeisance as to a liberator and savior. 
Godfrey of Bouillon soon came in for his share of 
glory. Within eight days after the fall of the city 
126 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


he was on the 23d of July elected king of Jerusa¬ 
lem. Godfrey accepted the office, but refused the 
title of king. He declared that it would be unbe¬ 
coming in him to wear a crown of gold in the city 
where Christ had been crowned with thorns. It 
was therefore decided that he be entitled “First 



JERUSALEM. 


Baron and Defender of the Holy Sepulchre.” His 
sovereignty, however, was ample and his right un¬ 
disputed. Soon after many of the princes and lead¬ 
ers returned to Europe. Peter the Hermit likewise 
left the Holy City and started on a homeward voy¬ 
age. In mid-sea his ship was caught in a storm 
and the terrified monk vowed if he should be spared 
127 









FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


he would found an abbey in honor of the tomb of 
Christ. The tempest passed and Peter kept his vow 
by building a monastery on the banks of the Maes 
in France. Here he spent the remnant of his days 
in penitential works, after the manner of his order. 

About a year after the taking of Jerusalem, as 
Godfrey was returning from an expedition, the 
emir of Caesarea* came out to meet him and 
presented to him an offering of some of the fruits 
of Palestine. The unsuspecting Godfrey accepted 
and ate an apple. Doubtless it had been poisoned, 
for the prince almost immediately fell ill. It was 
with great difficulty that he reached Jaffa, whence 
he was conveyed to his capital, where on the 18th of 
July, noo, he died. His mortal remains were de¬ 
posited within the enclosure of Calvary, near the 
tomb of Christ. He surpassed all the captains of 
his age, and his name will live honored amongst 
men as long as the remembrance of the Crusades. 
Godfrey was succeeded by his brother Baldwin of 
Edessa, as Baldwin I., and upon his death in 1118, 
was succeeded by Baldwin de Bourg, a cousin of 
Baldwin I., under the title of Baldwin II. 

Ancient Templars. 

The conquest of the city furnished a new stimu¬ 
lus to the pilgrim age, but Palestine was still in the 
hands of the fierce Mohammedans, who soon began 
to carry on their work of pillage and murder of 
Christian pilgrims with increased vigor. In 1118 
two French knights, Hugh de Payens and Geoffrey 
of Saint Omar, perceiving the hardships to which 
the Christian travelers were exposed in and about 

128 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


the Holy City, took upon themselves the duty of 
conducting the pilgrims who journeyed between 
Jerusalem and the Jordan. This charitable office 
soon gained reputation for the humble warrior 
guides, and they were joined by seven others, like- 
minded with themselves. Their names were Royal, 
Gundemar, Godfrey Bisol, Payens de Montidur, 
Archibald de St. Aman, Andre de St. Moulbar, 
and the Count of Province. An organization was 
effected under the benevolent patronage of the pa¬ 
triarch of the city, and under the name of “Poor 
Fellow Soldiers of Christ.” The members bound 
themselves by the usual monastic vow of obedience, 
chastity and poverty; and to these two others were 
added, to defend the Holy Sepulchre and to protect 
the wayfaring pilgrims in Palestine. Such was 
the humble beginning of the Order of Knights’ 
Templar. At this time I deem it best to mention 
that the old established Order of Knights Hospital¬ 
lers, who were now in the flush of their heroic vic¬ 
tories, lent aid and encouragement to the new so¬ 
ciety of brothers. Nothing was to be feared by the 
Knights Hospitallers from an humble fraternity 
known by the name of “Poor Fellow-soldiers of 
Christ,” but in years afterwards jealousy arose, 
and sometimes conflict between the two orders, yet 
for the most part they fought side by side for the 
common cause. 

Hugh and Geoffrey had but one horse between 
them, and him they rode together on their first mis¬ 
sion of benevolence. (The great seal of the Tem¬ 
plars still perpetuates the story of the lowly origin 
of the Order in the figure of a steed with two 
riders.) The first members were given a lodging by 
129 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


Baldwin II., who assigned them quarters in his pal¬ 
ace on the site of the ancient temple, whence they 
derived the name of Templars; a title which they 
ever afterward retained. 

Their first armory was established in a church 
near by, and here they stored their knightly weap¬ 
ons. The first Chapter was limited to nine mem¬ 
bers ; but this limitation was removed by the Council 
of Troyes in 1127. Raynouard says that Baldwin 
sent Hugh de Payens to Europe to solicit a new 
Crusade, and that while there he presented his com¬ 
panions to the Pope Honorius II., from whom he 
craved permission to form a religious military or¬ 
der, in imitation of that of the Hospitallers. The 
Pontiff referred them to the ecclesiastical council 
which was then in session at Troyes, in Champagne. 
Thither De Payens repaired, and represented to the 
fathers the vocation of himself and his companions 
as defenders of the pilgrim; the enterprise was 
approved, and St. Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux, 
was commissioned to draw up a suitable code for 
the government of the body, and to devise an appro¬ 
priate garb. The dress chosen was in strong con¬ 
trast with that of the Knights Hospitallers, consist¬ 
ing of a white tunic and mantle, with a red cross 
on the left breast, while the Knights Hospitallers 
wore the plain black robe, bearing a white cross of 
eight points on the left breast. The rule of conduct 
and discipline was approved in 1128 by Pope Hon'o- 
rius II. The principal articles were these: The 
Knights were bound to recite vocal prayers at cer¬ 
tain hours; to abstain from meats four days in the 
week; to refrain from hunting and hawking; to de¬ 
fend with their lives the mysteries of the Christian 
130 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


faith; to observe and maintain the seven sacraments 
of the church, the fourteen articles of faith, the 
creeds of the apostles and of Athanasius;* to up¬ 
hold the doctrines of the two Testaments, including 
the interpretations of the Fathers, the unity of God 
and the trinity of his person, and the virginity of 
Mary both before and after the birth of the Son; 
to go beyond the seas when called to do so in defense 
of the cause; to fly not from the foe unless assailed 
by more than three infidels at once. Hugh de Pay- 
ens, thus provided with a rule that gave perma¬ 
nence to his Order, and encouraged by the approval 
of the church, returned to Jerusalem. Humility 
was one of the first principles of the membership. 
The helmet of the Templar should have no crest— 
his beard should not be cut—his demeanor should be 
that of servant of his fellows. Each member, on 
assuming the garb of a Knight, must be girt with 
a linen cord in token that he was henceforth bound 
to service. 

The .primal object sought in the institution of 
the Order was the succor of needy pilgrims; but as 
the Moslems recovered after the capture of Jeru¬ 
salem, and in increasing numbers threatened the 
Christians on every side, the organization from ne¬ 
cessity assumed a more distinctively military char¬ 
acter, and ultimately became the right arm of the 
Christian armies in their several operations against 
the foe. St. Bernard, who visited them in their 
Temple retreat, speaks in the warmest terms of 
their self-denial, their frugality, their modesty, 
their piety, and their bravery. Their banner was 
the Beauseant, of divided white and black, indi- 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


cative of peace to their friends, but destruction to 
their foes. 

The organization of the Templars embraced four 
classes of members—Knights, Squires, Servitors 
and Priests. Each had their peculiar duties and 
obligations. The presiding officer of the Order was 
called the Master—afterwards the Grand Master. 
England, Germany, France and Italy, in fact, nearly 
all the states of Christendom, were divided into 
provinces, and over each was set a provincial Mas¬ 
ter. The Grand Master of Jerusalem was regarded 
as the head of the entire brotherhood, which soon 
grew in numbers, influence and wealth to be one 
of the most powerful organizations in the world. 
Counts, dukes, princes, and even kings, eagerly 
sought the honor which was everywhere conceded 
to the red cross and white mantle of the Templar. 

In course of time the Knights of the Temple be¬ 
came a sovereign body, owing no allegiance to any 
secular potentate. In spiritual matters the Pope 
was still regarded as supreme, but in all other af¬ 
fairs the Grand Master was as independent as the 
greatest sovereign of Europe. The houses of the 
Knights could not be invaded by any civil officer. 
Their churches and cemeteries were exempt from 
interdicts; their properties and revenues from taxa¬ 
tion. So great were the immunities thus enjoyed 
that thousands of persons sought to be affiliated 
with the brotherhood in order to share its benefits. 

To the Knights Templar and the Hospitallers 
was largely due whatever success or glory the sub¬ 
sequent Crusades achieved, of which there were 
seven. They were the flower of the armies, always 
in the van with their glittering swords and waving 
132 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 

banners, when duty called; and whether defending* 
moated castle, or mountain defiles, they fought with 
that dauntless heroism which makes even the sword 
almost an object of reverence. When the Christian 
kingdom in the East tottered to its downfall, the 
Templars attempted to secure their own interests 
by separate treaties with the Moslems, but their 
fortunes were involved with those of the Western 
powers, and all went down together. The chief 
seat of the Templars remained at Jerusalem from 
the foundation in 1118 until 1187, when Saladin, 
Sultan of Egypt, invaded Palestine, and in October 
of that year captured Jerusalem; it was then trans¬ 
ferred to Antioch, which fell to the Christians in 
1098, during the first Crusade. It was there that 
the followers of Christ first took the name of Chris¬ 
tians; it was there that St. Peter was made first 
bishop of the church; and there the early saints and 
martyrs performed their miracles that gave to the 
city a sanctity second only to that of Jerusalem. 
The headquarters of the Grand Master remained 
at Antioch for four years, and was then removed in 
1191 to Acre.* This city was first taken by Bald¬ 
win I. in 1100, recaptured by the Moslems under 
Saladin in 1187, and again retaken in 1191, by 
Richard Coeur de Lion, leader of the third Crusade. 
It was estimated that at this siege the Christian 
losses reached the enormous aggregate of three 
hundred thousand men, while those of the Moslems 
were but little inferior. In all the great struggles 
of human history so terrible a waste of life was 
•never witnessed as before the walls of Acre. It 
became the stronghold of Knighthood and contin¬ 
ued to be the headquarters of the Order until 1217, 
i33' 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


when a third removal was made to the Pilgrims 
Castle near Caesarea, a city founded by Herod the 
Great, in 22 B. C., and built in honor of Caesar. 
It was situated northwest of Jerusalem on the Medi¬ 
terranean, and north of Jaffa, but now lies in shape¬ 
less ruins. In 1291 the city of Acre again fell into 
the hands of the Moslems under Sultan Khatil of 
Cairo, and with the subsequent overthrow of the 
Christian kingdom, the Templars retired to the 
island of Cyprus, which was captured in 1191 by 
Richard Coeur de Lion, during the third Crusade, 
and to whom they paid thirty-five thousand marks. 
Many of the Templars, after a brief stay in the 
island of'Cyprus, retired to their different Precep- 
tories in Europe. A brief description of the defense 
and fall of Acre can only be compared with the 
many accounts of their past glorious struggles with 
the infidel in defense of the Holy Land, and of Chris¬ 
tian pilgrimage, sometimes successful and often dis¬ 
astrous ; of arid sands well moistened with the blood 
of Christian and Saracen warriors; of final forced 
departure from the places which its prowess had 
conquered, but which it had not the strength to 
hold. 


Defense and Fall of Acre. 

With less than twelve thousand persons able to 
bear arms, they manned the ramparts and defended 
the city against two hundred thousand Moslems. 
Almost every nation of Europe was represented 
in the multitudes that thronged the streets that had 
gathered within the defenses of the city. On the 
fourth of May, a day fatal to the Christians, 
i34 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 



BATTLE BEFORE ACRE. 

the signal for the last assault was given. At dawn 
the Moslem army was under arms, the Sultan ani- 

i35 











FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


mating the soldiers by his presence. Both the at¬ 
tack and defense were much greater than the days 
before. Among those who fell on the field of battle, 
there were seven Moslems for one Christian; but 
the Moslems could repair their losses; those of the 
Christians were irreparable. With ever-increasing 
vehemence the Moslems leveled their destroying en¬ 
gines against the tottering walls and towers of the 
city. At last an important defense, known by the 
name of the Cursed Tower, yielded to the assail¬ 
ants, and.went down with a crash. The breach 
thus effected in the defenses opened into the heart 
of the city. The Templars formed a rash resolu¬ 
tion of making a sortie, and attacking the camp of 
the Moslems; they found the enemies drawn up in 
order of battle. After a bloody conflict the Templars 
were repulsed and pursued to the foot of the ram¬ 
parts. The Grand Master of the Templars, William 
de Beaujeu, one of the bravest of the brave, was 
struck by an arrow and fell in the midst of his 
Knights. The Grand Master of the Hospitallers 
at the same time received a wound which disabled 
him. The rout then became general, and all hope 
of saving the city was lost. In poured the savage 
tides of victorious Islam, hungry for blood and re¬ 
venge. It was then a death-pall seemed stretched 
over the whole city of Acre; there was not a street 
that did not become the theater of carnage; a battle 
was fought for every tower, for every palace, and 
at the entrance of every public building; and in all 
these combats so many men were killed, that, ac¬ 
cording to the report of an historian, “they walked 
upon the dead as upon a bridge.” A violent storm, 
accompanied by hail and rain, burst over the city; 

136 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


the horizon was all at once covered with such im¬ 
penetrable darkness that the combatants could 
scarcely distinguish the colors they fought under, 
or see the standards floated over the towers; the 
flames appeared in several quarters without any one 
making an effort to extinguish them; the conquer¬ 
ors only thought of destroying the city; the only ob¬ 
ject of the conquered was to escape. Whole fami¬ 
lies took refuge in churches, where they were stifled 
by the flames, or cut to pieces at the foot of the 
altars; many women and timid virgins, to preserve 
their chastity, cut off their noses and otherwise dis¬ 
figured themselves to escape the brutality of the 
conquerors, for when the Moslems beheld their 
bleeding faces, they would conceive a disgust for 
them and put them to the sword at once. 

The castle of the Templars, situated on the sea- 
coast, in which all the Knights had taken refuge 
who had escaped the steel of the Moslems, was the 
only place in the city that had held out. After sev¬ 
eral days’ siege, the Sultan granted a capitulation, 
and sent three hundred Moslems to execute the 
treaty. Scarcely had these entered one of the prin¬ 
cipal towers, the tower of the Grand Master, than 
they began to outrage the women who had taken 
refuge there. This violation of the rights of war 
irritated the Christian warriors to such a degree 
that all the Moslems who entered the tower were 
put to death. The angry Sultan ordered the siege 
renewed at once, and that all Templars in the asylum 
be put to the sword. The Templars and their com¬ 
panions defended themselves for several days; at 
length the tower of the Grand Master was under¬ 
mined, and fell at the very moment the Moslems 
i37 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


were mounting to an assault. They who attacked it 
and they who defended it were equally crushed by 
its fall; women,children,Christian warriors, all who 
had come to seek refuge in the house of the Tem¬ 
plars, perished, buried beneath the ruins. Such was 
the dash, bravery and self-sacrifice of the Templars 
throughout the life of the Order. To follow their 
acts of true heroism would be to give a history of 
the Crusades. 

The few Christians still clinging to the coast 
town of Syria made their escape as soon as possible 
and left the savage Moslems in complete possession 
of the country. After a continuance of 191 years, 
the contest between the Cross and the Crescent 
had ended in a complete restoration of the ancient 
regime throughout Syria and Asia Minor. The 
Crescent of Islam was again in the ascendant. 

Final Dissolution. 

In the beginning of the fourteenth century, 
Philip the Fair, an avaricious and ambitious king 
of France, secretly planned with Pope Clement V. 
for the destruction of the Templars and the appro¬ 
priation of their revenue. The Order at this time 
was enormously wealthy; this aroused his avarice. 
Their power interfered with his designs of politi¬ 
cal aggrandizement and this alarmed his ambition. 
Pope Clement, by Philip's direction, wrote, in 1306, 
to De Molay, the Grand Master, who was then at 
Cyprus, inviting him to come and consult with him 
on some matters of great importance to the Order. 
De Molay obeyed the summons and arrived at Paris 
with sixty Knights and a large amount of treasure. 
138 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 



He was arrested and imprisoned, as was later every 
Knight in France, on the pretended charge of idol¬ 
atry, and other enormous crimes, of which a rene¬ 
gade and expelled prior of the Order was said to 
have confessed that the Knights were guilty of in 


BURNING OF JAQUES DE MOLAY. 

their Chapters. On such preposterous charges the 
Knights were tried, and, of course, as a foregone 
conclusion, condemned, and on the 12th of May, 
1310, fifty-four of the Knights were publicly burned. 
De Molay, during his imprisonment, was subjected 
to the utmost indignities and sufiferings for the 
purpose of extorting from him a confession of the 
guilt of his Order. But De Molay was firm and 
loyal, and on the nth day of March, 1314, he was 
publicly burned “in the little island” of the Seine 
between the “Augustinians and the royal garden” 
139 










FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


in Paris. When about to die he solemnly affirmed 
the innocence of the Order, and it is said summoned 
Pope Clement to appear before the judgment-seat 
of God in forty days and the king of France within 
a year, and both, it is well known, died within the 
periods specified. In most countries their property 
was seized by the sovereign and in part turned over 
to the Hospitallers and other Orders. From the 
establishment of the Order by Hugh de Payens, the 
first Grand Master, in 1118, until its dissolution 
(1311) during the Mastership of James De Molay, 
twenty-two Grand Masters presided over the Order. 

Knights Templar, Masonic. 

The connection of the Knights Templar with the 
Freemasons may much more plausibly be traced 
than that of the Knights of Malta. Yet, unfor¬ 
tunately, the sources from which information is to 
be derived are for the most part traditionary; au¬ 
thentic dates and documents are wanting. 

There are four sources from which Masonic Tem¬ 
plars are said to have derived their existence, mak¬ 
ing therefore as many different divisions of the Or¬ 
der. 

1. The Templars who claim John Mark Lar- 
menius as the successor of De Molay. From this 
source came the Templars of France. 

2. Those who recognize Peter d’Aumont as the 
successor of De Molay. From this source came the 
Templars of Germany. 

3. Those who derive their Templarism from the 
Count Beaujeu, the nephew of De Molay. From 
this source came the Swedish Templars. 

140 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


4. Those who claim an independent origin, and 
repudiate alike the authority of Larmenius, of Au- 
mont and of Beaujeu. 

Of the last class, or the Templars who recognized 
the authority of neither of the leaders who have been 
mentioned, there were two subdivisions, the Scotch 
and the English; for it is only in Scotland and Eng¬ 
land that this independent Templar ism found a foot¬ 
hold. 

The English Masonic Templars are most prob¬ 
ably derived from that body called the “Baldwyn 
Encampment’’ of Bristol, or from some one of the 
co-ordinate Encampments of London, Bath, York 
and Salisbury, which it is claimed were formed by 
the members of the Preceptory, 1 which had long ex¬ 
isted at Bristol, and who, on the dissolution of their 
Order, are supposed to have united with the Ma¬ 
sonic fraternity. The Baldwyn Encampment claims 
to have existed from “time immemorial”—an indefi¬ 
nite period—but we can trace it back far enough 
to give it a priority over all other English Encamp¬ 
ments. 2 From this division of the Templars, repu¬ 
diating all connections with Larmenius, with Au- 
mont, or any other of the self-constituted leaders, 
but tracing its origin to the independent action of 
Knights who fled for security and for perpetuity 
into the body of Masonry, are we, I think, says Dr. 
Mackey, justly entitled to derive the Templars of 
the United States. Just at what time Comman- 
deries were organized in this country, there is no 


1 See Commandery, page 99, third and fourth paragraphs. 

2 See Baldwyn Encampment, in Supplement. 

141 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


definite date. Boston Commandery claims to date 
from 1769, and is supposed to be one of the oldest. 

Such in outline is the illustrous military history 
of the Order of Knights Templar. The outward 
may pass away; the torn banners, the gleaming 
shield, the burnished armor, the quivering blades, 
together with the forms that bore them so gallantly, 
may become dust, or at best preserved in history 
and song, but the knightly spirit may ever abide in 
true men and be exemplified in every age. 


Knights of Malta. 

This Order, which at various times in the 
progress of its history, received the names of 
Knights Hospitallers, Knights of St. John of Jeru¬ 
salem, Knights of Rhodes, and lastly, Knights of 
Malta, was the oldest and one of the most important 
of the religious and military orders of Knighthood 
which sprang into existence during the Crusades, 
which were instituted for the recovery of the Holy 
Land. It owes its origin to the Hospitallers of 
Jerusalem, that wholly religious and charitable Or¬ 
der, which was established at Jerusalem in 1048 
by some pious and benevolent merchants of the 
Italian city of Amalfi, for the succor of poor and 
distressed Latin pilgrims. 

This society, established when Jerusalem was 
in the hands of Mohammedans, passed through 
many vicissitudes, but lived to see the Holy Land 
conquered by the Christian Knights. It then re¬ 
ceived many accessions from the Crusaders, who, 
laying aside their arms, devoted themselves to the 
pious avocation of attending the sick. It was then, 
142 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 

in the year 1099, that Gerard, the Rector of the 
Hospital, induced the brethren to take upon them¬ 
selves the vows of poverty, obedience and chastity. 
The habit selected for the Order was a plain black 
robe, bearing a white cross of eight points on the 
left breast. 

Raymond de Puy succeeded Gerard and proposed 
a change in the character of the society, by which 
it should become a Military Order, devoted to active 
labors in the field and the protection of Palestine 
from the encroachment of the infidels. This propo¬ 
sition was warmly approved by Baldwyn, the king 
of Jerusalem, who, harassed by'a continual war¬ 
fare, gladly accepted this addition to his forces. 
The Order having thus been organized on a military 
basis, the members took a new oath, by which they 
bound themselves to defend the cause of Christian¬ 
ity, but on no account to bear arms for any other 
purpose. “This was in the same year that the an¬ 
cient Order of Templars was organized and in the 
same city.” 

This act, done in 1118, is considered as the be¬ 
ginning of the establishment of the Order of 
Knights Hospitallers of St. John, of which Ray¬ 
mond DePuy is, by all historians, deemed the first 
Grand Master. They derived their title from the 
church and monastery built at Jerusalem in 1048 
by the founders of the Order, and dedicated to St. 
John the Baptist. The history of the Knights from 
this time to the middle of the sixteenth century 
is but a chronicle of continued warfare with the 
enemies of the Christian faith. When Jerusalem 
was captured by Saladin in 1187, the Hospitallers 
retired to Margat, a town and fortress of Palestine 
143 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


which still acknowledged the Christian sway. At 
this epoch, the Hospitallers suffered much from 
their disputes and rivalries with the Templars; but 
in times of danger both brotherhoods gave their 
best blood in defense of the common cause. In 1191 
they made Acre their principal place of residence, 
and in 1291, after the fall of that city, they fled to 
the island of Cyprus, where they established their 
convent. It was there they became a maritime 
power, having their own fleets and winning their 
own victories in the eastern Mediterranean. In 
time their residence in Cyprus became unpleasant. 
The king, by heavy taxes and other rigorous exac¬ 
tions, had so disgusted them, that early in the four¬ 
teenth century they left and seized the island of 
Rhodes, where they established their power and de¬ 
fied the Turks for more than two hundred years. In 
the latter part of 1522 they were attacked by the 
Turkish forces and surrendered. The Knights were 
permitted to retire with all their personal property, 
whence they sailed away and sought refuge in the 
island of Crete or Candia; from there to Messina 
in the island of Sicily, and then to the mainland of 
Italy, where, after seven years’ negotiations with 
Emperor Charles V. of Germany, they obtained 
complete control of the island of Malta, and in 1530 
they took formal possession. From this time the 
Order received the name of “Knights of Malta.” 

The sea-born possession they converted into a 
fortress which, in spite of the most strenuous efforts 
of the Turks, was held by the Knights until 1798, 
when it was surrendered without a struggle by 
Louis de Hompesch, the imbecile and pusillanimous 
Grand Master, to the French army and fleet under 
144 


FREEMASONRY AND KNIGHTS TEMPLAR 


Bonaparte; and this event may be considered as the 
commencement of the suppression of the Order as 
an active power. All that remains of it now is but 
the diluted shadow of its former existence. The 
Order, during its residence in Rhodes, underwent 
several changes in its. organization, by which the 
simpler system observed during its infancy in the 
Holy Land was rendered more perfect and more 
complicated. In 1320 the Order was divided into 
eight languages, covering that number of provinces, 
over each of which presided one of the Grand digna- 
taries with the title of Conventual Bailiff. Each of 
these dignitaries resided in the palace or inn, while 
the Hospitallers were at Rhodes and later at Malta, 
which was appropriated to his language. In every 
province there .were one or more Grand Priories 
presided over by Grand Priors, and beneath these 
were the Commanderies, over each of which was 
a Commander. Now only the languages of Italy 
and Germany remain, and the functions of the 
Grand Master are exercised by a Lieutenant of the 
Magistery, who resides at Rome. 

The Ancient Order of Malta has no connection 
with Masonry whatever, but was probably intro¬ 
duced by Thomas S. Webb as an appendant degree 
to the Order of the Temple, and in this country is 
conferred in the Asylum of a Commandery, or in 
a Priory regularly convened for that purpose. 

THE END. 


v 


145 


















X 







- 


* 








• • 










\ 



































0 














0 






















ft 
































































Supplemental Encyclopaedia 

OF 

Ancient Countries and Cities 

WITH 

Short Sketches of the Early Tribes and of the Ancient 
Characters Connected with Masonic History. 


147 





Supplemental Encyclopaedia of Ancient 
Countries and Cities. 


Aaron—The son of Amram and Jochebed, of the tribe 
of Levi, and brother of Moses and Miriam, born in the 
year 1574 B. C. He was three years older than Moses 
and apparently some years younger than their sister Miriam. 
Being an impulsive and eloquent man, he was appointed 
spokesman to Moses, whom he assisted in the deliverance 
of the Israelites from the bondage in Egypt. His wife 
was Elisheba, daughter of Aminadab, from whom he had 
four sons. Aaron’s chief distinction consisted in the choice 
of him and his male posterity for the priesthood. He was 
consecrated the first high priest of the Israelites. He died 
on Mount Hor, in Edom, which is still called the “Moun¬ 
tain of Aaron,” in the fortieth year after leaving Egypt, 
at the age of 123 years, and was succeeded in the priest¬ 
hood by his son Eleazer. The Arabs still pretend to show 
his tomb on the mount, and highly venerate it. 

Abraham or Abram—A son oLTerah, a descendant 
of Shem, and born at Ur, in Mesopotamia, in 1996 B. C. 
In 1922 B. C. he went to Haran, in Mesopotamia, accom¬ 
panied by his father, his wife Sarai, his brother Nahor, 
and his nephew Lot (Gen. xi. 26-32). His father dies 
soon after, and he takes Lot and his wife Sarai, and goes 
to Canaan. In 1920 B. C. they go to Egypt, but return 
in two years and Abram and Lot separate; Lot goes to 
Sodom and Abram to the Valley of Mamre* the same is 
Hebron in the land of Canaan. Sarai, being barren, gives 
Hagar, her Egyptian handmaid, to Abram, and in 1910 
B. C. Ishmael was born. God covenants with Abram, 


149 



SUPPLEMENTAL ENCYCLOPEDIA 


changes his name to Abraham, institutes circumcision, and 
promises Isaac by Sarai, whom he calls Sarah (Gen. xvi., 
xvii.). In 1896 B. C. Isaac is born, and four years later 
Abraham sends Ishmael and Hagar away by request of 
Sarah. In 1859 B. C. Sarah dies, and Abraham, five years 
later, marries Keturah, by whom he had six sons. In 1821 
B. C. Abraham dies at the age of 175 years, and is buried 
in the cave of Machpelah. Ishmael dies in 1773 B. C., at 
the age of 137 years. 

In 1856 B. C. Isaac marries Rebekah, and in 1836 B. C. 
twin sons were born, whom they called Jacob and Esau 
(Gen. xxv.). Isaac dies at Hebron in 1716 B. C., aged 
180 years, and is buried in the tomb of Abraham by his 
two sons (Gen. xxxv.). 

In T 753 B. C. Jacob marries Leah and Rachel, and has 
six sons and one daughter by Leah: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, 
Judah, Isaachar, Zebulun and Dinah; two sons by Rachel’s 
handmaid Bilhah: Dan and Naphtali; two by Zilpah, 
Leah’s handmaid: Gad and Asher; two by Rachel: Joseph 
and Benjamin. In 1689 B. C. Jacob dies in Egypt, aged 
147, and was buried in Canaan (Gen. 1. 6-13). 

Acre—A city of the tribe of Asher (Judg. i. 31). It 
was called by the Phoenicians, Accho; by the Greeks, 
Ptolemais, from one of the Ptolemies, who enlarged and 
beautified it. The Crusaders gave it the name of Acre, 
or St. John of Acre. It is called Akka by the Turks. It 
is a city and seaport of Syria, and is on the Mediterranean, 
thirty miles south of Tyre. It was the “Key to Palestine,” 
and has been the scene of many famous sieges and battles. 
It was taken by the Crusaders in 1100, and retaken by 
the Saracens in 1187. In 1191 it was recovered by the 
Crusaders (under Guido of Jerusalem, Philip of France, 
and Richard the Lion-hearted of England), and held by 
them till they were finally driven out of Palestine in 1291. 
It was the last fortified place wrested from the Christians 
by the Turks. 

150 


SUPPLEMENTAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA 

Aholiab—A skillful artificer of the tribe of Dan, who 
was appointed, together with Bezaleel, to construct the 
tabernacle in the wilderness and the ark of the covenant. 

Amalekites—A nomadic and warlike people, occupy¬ 
ing, at the time of the Exodus, the Sinaitic peninsula and 
the wilderness between Egypt and Palestine. They lived 
generally in migrating parties, in caves or tents, like the 
Bedaween Arabs of the present day. The Israelites had 
scarcely passed the Red Sea when the Amalekites attacked 
them at Rephidim, and slew those who, through fatigue 
or weakness, lagged behind, but were signally defeated in 
the final attack. They came again into conflict with a part 
of the Israelites on the border of the promised land; and 
after four hundred years Saul attacked and destroyed the 
greater part of them. The remnant that escaped, David 
defeated on several occasions; and finally they were blotted 
out by the Simeonites in the time of Hezekiah. 

Ammonites—They were the descendants of Ammon, 
or Ben-Ammi, the son of Lot by his youngest daughter 
(Gen. xix. 38). They destroyed an ancient race of giants 
called Zamzummim, and seized their country, which lay 
east of the Jordan between the rivers Arnon and Jabbok, 
and adjoining the northern part of Moab. Their chief 
city was Robbah, which stood on the Jabbok, fifty-five miles 
E. NE. of Jerusalem. Yet in the time of Moses they had 
been driven out of this region, toward the east, by the 
Amorites. About the year 1187 B. C. the Ammonites 
greatly oppressed the Israelites, and Jephthah, who had 
been expelled from home by his brothers on account of 
his illegitimate birth and gone to the land of Tob, a dis¬ 
trict beyond the Jordan, where he had become the chief of 
a band of brigands, was invited by the Israelites to become 
their commander. He accepted the invitation on the con¬ 
dition that he should remain their ruler if he defeated the 
Ammonites. The victory was complete, and hence he ruled 

151 


SUPPLEMENTAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA 


or was judge over the country the rest of his life. A most 
affecting incident in his life was his devoting his daughter 
to God as a sacrifice in consequence of a rash vow (Judg. 
xi.). 

Amorites—A people descended from Emer, the fourth 
son of Canaan (Gen. x. io). They first peopled the 
mountains west of the Dead Sea, near Hebron; but after¬ 
wards extended their limits and took possession of the 
finest provinces of Moab and Ammon, on the east between 
the brooks of Jabbok and Arnon. Moses took this country 
from their king Sihon. The lands which the Amorites 
possessed on the west side of the Jordan were given to 
the tribe of Judah, and those on the east, to the tribes of 
Reuben and Gad. The Amorites were afterwards subdued 
by Joshua, but he was not able to exterminate them. They 
appear to have been long hostile to the Israelites, but in 
Solomon’s time were reduced to a tributary condition. 

Antioch—An ancient city and the former capital of 
Syria, situated on a fertile and beautiful plain on the left 
bank of the river Orontes. It was founded in 301 B. C., 
and named after Antiochus, a general in the Syrian army 
and father of Seleucus Nicator, the founder of the Syrian 
monarchy. It was the favorite residence of the kings of 
Syria and was called “Antioch the Beautiful.” It was 
widely celebrated for the splendor of its luxury and the 
magnificence of its palaces and temples. The population 
in the time of its greatest prosperity is supposed to have 
been 400,000 or more. It has been visited by several earth¬ 
quakes and is now nearly ruined. The disciples of Christ 
were first called Christians in Antioch, which occupies a 
prominent position in the history of the primitive church 
as the scene of the labors of the apostle Paul. The Cru¬ 
saders took Antioch from the Saracens in 1098, after which 
it was the capital of a Christian principality until 1269. 
Its situation, amid innumerable groves and small streams, 

152 


SUPPLEMENTAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA 


midway between Alexander and Constantinople, rendered 
it a place of great beauty and salubrity, as well as com¬ 
mercial importance. Among the remains of its former 
grandeur are the ruined walls and aqueduct. 

Arabia—Is a country of western Asia, lying south and 
east of Judea. It is divided into three parts—Deserta, 
Petraea and Felix. Arabia Deserta is a vast steppe or 
elevated expanse of sand, with occasional hills and a sparse 
vegetation. It has the mountains of Gilead on the west, 
and the river Euphrates on the east, and extends far to 
the south. Arabia Petraea lies south of the Holy Land and 
had Petra for its capital. This region contained the Edom¬ 
ites and Amalekites, etc., people at present known under the 
general name of Arabs. Arabia Felix lies still farther south 
and east, and does not immediately adjoin the Holy Land. 
The Queen of Sheba, who visited Solomon, was probably 
queen of part of Arabia Felix. This country abounded 
with riches, particularly with spices, and is now called 
Hedjar. It is much celebrated in modern times by reason 
of the cities of Mecca and Medina being situated in it. 
There are, according to native historians, two races of 
Arabs; those who derive their descent from the primitive 
inhabitants of the land, Joktan, a son of Eber, and by him 
connected with the Hebrews and other Shemitic families, 
and those who claim Ishmael as their ancestor. They are 
Mohammedans, but their religion sets but lightly on them. 

Arabia Deserta—See Arabia. 

Arabia Petraea—See Arabia. 

Arabia Felix—See Arabia. 

Aram-Naha-raim—See Mesopotamia. 

Ark of the Covenant—In the year 1116 B. C. the ark 
was taken from Shiloh to Ebenezer; there the Philistines 
captured the Israelites and took the ark to Ashdod and 
set it in the house of Dagon; it was then taken to Gath, 

153 


SUPPLEMENTAL ENCYCLOPEDIA 


and from there to Ekron. In 1115 B. C. it was taken to 
the land of Beth-shemesh, and from there to Kirjath-jearim, 
a city of the Gibeonites, about nine miles northeast of 
Jerusalem, and placed in the house of Abinadab,' a Levite 
(I. Sam. iv.-vii.). In 1045 B. C. the ark was taken to 
the house of Obed-edom, a Gentile (II. Sam. vi.-x.), and 
in the same year it was carried under King David’s instruc¬ 
tions to Jerusalem, where it was placed in a temporary 
“tabernacle (I. Chron. xv., xvi.). 

Athelstan—An able Anglo-Saxon king of England, 
born about 895 A. D., was the natural son of Edward the 
Elder, and a grandson of Elfred the Great. He began to 
reign in 925, and was the first actual sovereign of all 
England. On the death of Sigtric, king of Northumbria, 
Athelstan annexed that country. A league was formed 
against him by the Welsh, Scots and Piets, whom he de¬ 
feated in a great battle at Brunenburg, in 937. He reigned 
over nearly all the island, except Scotland and Wales. He 
promoted learning and civilization, and was reputed one 
of the wisest of the Anglo-Saxon kings. He died without 
issue October 27, 940, and was succeeded by his brother 
Edmund. 

Athanasius—Saint, a celebrated Greek Father of the 
church, was born at Alexandria about A. D. 296. His 
education was directed by Alexander, archbishop of Alexan¬ 
dria. After he had been ordained as a deacon he was ap¬ 
pointed a member of the General Council of Nice (A. D. 
325), in which he distinguished himself by his eloquence, 
learning, and zeal against Arianism (a denial that the Son 
was co-essential and co-eternal with the Father). 

Bacchus (Gr., Dionysus )—The youthful and beautiful 
god of wine, said to be the son of Jupiter. He taught men 
the culture of the vine, and first produced from grapes 
an intoxicating drink. His worship was spread over many 

154 


SUPPLEMENTAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA 


countries of the world, and the myth of Bacchus was 
variously modified by different peoples. 

Baldwyn Encampment—An original Encampment of 
Knights .Templar at Bristol, in England, said to have 
been established from time immemorial. (No doubt the 
Masonified [excuse the term] lineal descendant of the Pre- 
ceptories of the thirteenth century. See Knights Templar, 
Masonic, page 140.) Four other Encampments of the same 
character are said to have existed in London, Bath, York 
and Salisbury. The Knights of Bristol were well-to-do 
and had large possessions in that ancient city. In the 
eighteenth century the Duke of Sussex received from the 
“Order of the Temple,” at Paris, the degree of Knights 
Templar and the authority to establish a Grand Conclave 
in England. He did so; and convened that body once, 
only once. His authority came from the Templars of 
France, who professed to have continued the Order by 
authority of a charter given by James de Molay to Lar- 
menius. During the remaining years of his life as Grand 
Master, Templarism had no activity in England, for he, for 
some cause or other, discountenanced all Christian and 
chivalric Masonry. After his death some of his officers 
and followers resolved to rescue the Order from its de¬ 
graded position, and several of the Encampments met and 
formed the Grand Conclave of England. 

In the meantime, of the five original Encampments of 
England, who claimed to be the genuine representatives 
of the Knights of the Temple, four had expired, leaving 
Bristol the sole relic of the Order, with the exception of 
the Encampments that had been created in various parts 
of the country, not holding under any legitimate authority, 
but raised by Knights who had been created in the Baldwyn 
Encampment at Bristol. 

Under these circumstances the Knights of Baldwyn, feel¬ 
ing that their place was at the head of the Order, would 
not yield precedence to the Encampment of Observance 

155 


SUPPLEMENTAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA 


(the original Encampment of the Duke of Sussex), derived 
from a foreign and spurious source, the so-called Order 
of the Temple in Paris, and refused to send representatives 
to the forming of the Grand Conclave of England. They 
also refused to acknowledge its authority in Bristol until 
such time as their claim should be treated with the con¬ 
sideration they believed it deserved. 

In 1857 the Knights at Bristol sought a reconciliation 
with the Grand Conclave of England, but were refused. 
They then in the same year “revived” the “Ancient Supreme 
Grand and Royal Encampment of Masonic Knights Tem¬ 
plar,” with a constituency of seven bodies. But this body 
did not have a very long existence, for in i860 the Camp 
at Baldwyn surrendered its independence, and became a 
rcognized constituent of the Grand Conclave of England 
and Wales. 

Belshazzar—Was the son of Nabonadius, the sixth and 
last king of the second Babylonian period. His mother 
was a daughter of Nebuchadnezzar, and probably the widow 
of Neriglissar, the fourth king of the period. When of 
sufficient age he was associated with his father on the 
throne, and in the Book of Daniel is therefore called king. 
The night of the fall of Babylon, 538 B. C., he made an 
impious feast, at which he and his courtiers drank out 
of the sacred vessels which had been carried away from 
the temple at Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. He was ter¬ 
rified by the apparition of the hand which wrote upon 
the wall; and in the same night was slain, and the city 
taken by Cyrus of Persia. The importance of Babylon 
rapidly declined soon after its capture by Cyrus, for he 
made Susa the capital of his kingdom. “There was a town 
on its site until the fourth century, and many Jews dwelt 
there.” But from this time onward Babylon ceases almost 
to be mentioned; even its ruins have not been discovered 
until within the last two centuries. It is infested by noxious 
animals, and perhaps in no place under heaven is the contrast 


SUPPLEMENTAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA 


between ancient magnificence and present desolation greater 
than here. 

Bethany—A village on the eastern slope of Mount Oli¬ 
vet, about two miles east-southeast of Jerusalem, and on 
the road to Jericho. It was often visited by Christ. Here 
Martha and Mary dwelt. It was from the midst of His 
disciples, near this village which he loved, that Christ 
ascended to heaven 

Bethlehem—A celebrated city in the tribe of Judah, six 
miles south of Jerusalem. It was beautifully situated on 
an oblong ridge, twenty-seven hundred feet above the level 
of the sea, and affording a fine view in every direction. The 
hills around it were terraced, and clothed with vines, fig 
trees, and almonds; and the valleys around it bore rich 
crops of grain. Its memory is delightfully associated with 
the names of Boaz and Ruth; it is celebrated as the birth¬ 
place and city of David; but, above all, it is hallowed as the 
plqce where the Redeemer was born. Over that lonely 
spot the guiding star hovered; there the eastern sages 
worshiped the King of kings, and there, where David 
watched his flock and praised God, were heard the songs of 
the angelic host at the Saviour’s birth. 

Birthright—The privilege of the first-born son. Among 
the Hebrews, as indeed among most other nations, the 
first-born enjoyed particular privileges; and wherever polyg¬ 
amy was tolerated, it was highly necessary to fix them. 
Besides the father’s chief blessing, the first-born son of a 
priest succeeded his father in the priestly office. Among 
the sons of Jacob, Reuben, the first-born, forfeited the right 
of the first-born and it was given to Levi. The first-born 
was entitled to a share of his father’s estate twice as large 
as any of the other brethren received, and succeeded to the 
official dignities and rights of his father. 

Briton—A native or citizen of ancient Britain or Britan¬ 
nia; a name given to the aboriginal or ancient inhabitants 

i57 


SUPPLEMENTAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA 


of that island. When Caesar invaded the island in 55 B. 
C., he found in it two different peoples—the interior was 
occupied by the primitive or indigenous Celtic inhabitants, 
who had been driven back from the coasts by a people of 
probable Gothic descent. The latter had colonized the 
southeast part of the island, and were less numerous than 
the Celtic Britons. Caesar was the first who gave the 
name Britannia to this island, which before his time was 
called Albion. The language of the southern Celtic Britons 
was very similar to the present Welsh. “The Gauls and 
Britons,” says R. G. Lotham, “are fundamental popula¬ 
tions of the British Isles.” The Piets were either aboriginal 
or intrusive. If aboriginal, they were, like the Gauls and 
Britons, Celtic. The religion of the island was Druidism. 

Byblos—A seaport and district of Phoenicia, north of 
Beyroot, whose Scriptural or Hebrew name was Gebal. 
The inhabitants were called Giblites, and denoted in the 
Hebrew word rendered “stone-squarers” in I. Kings v. 
18 . Their land and all Lebanon were assigned to the 
Israelites, but never fully possessed. It was an impor¬ 
tant place, and the seat of the worship of Thammuz. 

Caesarea—A city situated on the coast of the Mediter¬ 
ranean Sea, between Joppa and Tyre. It was anciently a 
small place called the Tower of Strato, but rebuilt with 
great splendor, and strongly fortified by Herod the Great, 
who formed a harbor by constructing a vast breakwater, 
adorned the city with many stately buildings, and named 
it Caesarea in honor of Caesar. This city was the capital 
of Judea during the reign of Herod the Great and of Herod 
Agrippa I., and was also the seat of the Roman power 
while Judea was governed as a province of the empire. It 
is now a heap of ruins. 

Canaan—The land peopled by Canaan, the son of Ham 
and grandson of Noah (Gen. ix. 18). His numerous pos- 

158 


SUPPLEMENTAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA 


terity seem to have occupied Zidon first, and thence spread 
in Syria and Canaan. This country has at different periods 
been called by various names, either from its inhabitants 
or some circumstances connected with its history. 

(1) ‘‘The land of Canaan,” from Canaan, who divided 
it among his sons, each of whom became the head of a 
numerous tribe, and ultimately of a distinct people. This 
did not at first include any land east of the Jordan (Gen. 
x., xi.). 

(2) “The land of promise,” from the promise given to 
Abraham that his posterity should possess it (Heb. xi. 9; 
Gen. xii. 7). 

(3) These being termed Hebrews, the region in which 
they dwelt was called “the land of the Hebrews” (Gen. xl. 
15 )- 

(4) “The land of Israel,” from the Israelites, or pos¬ 
terity of Jacob, having settled there. This name compre¬ 
hends all that tract of ground, on each side of the Jordan, 
which God gave for an inheritance to the Hebrews. At a 
later age this term was often restricted to the territory of 
the ten tribes (Ezek. xxvii. 17). 

(5) “The land of Judah.” This at first comprised only 
the region which was allotted to the tribe of Judah. After 
the separation of the ten tribes, the land which belonged 
to Judah and Benjamin, who formed a separate kingdom, 
was distinguished by the appellation of “the land of Judah,” 
or Judea, which latter name the whole country retained 
during the existence of the second temple, and under the 
dominion of the Romans. 

(6) “Holy Land.” This name appears to have been 
used by the Hebrews after the Babylonish captivity (Zech. 
XV. 14). 

(7) “Palestine” (Ex. xv. 14), a name derived from the 
Philistines, who settled on the borders of the Mediterranean. 
A name subsequently given to the whole country, though 
the Philistines in fact possessed only a small part of it. By 

159 


SUPPLEMENTAL ENCYCLOPEDIA 


heathen writers, the Holy Land has been variously termed 
Palestine, Syria and Phoenicia. Canaan was bounded on 
the west by the Mediterranean Sea, north by Mount Leba¬ 
non and Syria, east by Arabia Deserta, and south by Edom 
and the desert of Zin and Paran. Its extreme length was 
about one hundred and eighty miles, and its average width 
about sixty-five. The soil of Canaan was highly productive. 
Olives, figs, vines and pomegranates grew in abundance; 
the hills were clothed with flocks and herds, and the valleys 
were covered with corn. The land of promise was cur¬ 
rently described as ‘‘flowing with milk and honey.” There 
were eleven tribes, the lineal descendants of the patriarch 
Canaan. 

Canaan was conquered from the Canaanites by the He¬ 
brews under Joshua, 1450 B. C., who divided it into twelve 
confederate states according to the tribes. Saul united 
it into one kingdom, and David enlarged its territories. 
In 975 B. C. it was divided into the kingdoms of Israel 
and Judah, the latter consisting of the tribes of Judah and 
Benjamin, and the former of the rest of the tribes. Assyria 
crushed the northern kingdom of Israel about 721 B. C., 
and Babylon crushed the southern kingdom of Israel about 
588 B. C. Since then the country has been under foreign 
domination, with hardly more than the shadow of independ¬ 
ence at any time. Persians, Greeks and Romans succeeded 
one another in the mastery. In the time of Christ under 
the Romans, there were four provinces—Galilee, Samaria 
and Judea on the west side of the Jordan, and Perea on 
the east side. Since A. D. 637, when Palestine was con¬ 
quered by the Saracens, it has, with little interruption, been 
under Mohammedan power. 

Ceres—The Roman name of the goddess of grain, fruit 
and agriculture; identical with the Grecian Demeter. Ceres 
was the mother of Proserpine. 

Chaldeans—See Chaldea. 

160 


SUPPLEMENTAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA 


Chaldea—A country in Asia, the capital of which, in its 
widest extent, was Babylon. It was originally of small 
extent, but the empire being afterwards very much en¬ 
larged, the name is generally taken in a more extensive 
sense, and includes Babylonia. The Chaldeans were origi¬ 
nally a warlike people, who at first inhabited the Koordish 
Mountains north of Assyria and Mesopotamia. As the 
Assyrian monarchs extended their conquests toward the 
north and west, the Chaldeans also came under their do¬ 
minion ; and this rough and energetic people appear to 
have assumed, under the sway of their conquerors, a new 
character, and to have been transformed from a rude horde 
into a civilized people. A very vivid and graphic descrip¬ 
tion of the Chaldean warriors is given by the prophet Habak- 
kuk, who probably lived about that time when they first 
made incursions into Palestine or the adjacent regions 
(Hab. i. 6-11). Of the date of their location in Babylonia 
nothing is now known. The Babylonian Empire was found¬ 
ed by Nimrod 2,000 years before Christ, and then embraced 
the cities of Babel, Erech, Accad and Calneh. The most 
ancient name of the country is Shinar; afterwards Babel, 
Babylon and Babylonia became its common appellation, 
with which, at a later period, Chaldea, or the land of the 
Chaldeans, was used as synonymous, after this people had 
got the whole into their possession. In the reign of King 
Hezekiah, 713 B. C., a king of Babylon is mentioned, the 
first of whom we read after Nimrod and Amraphel. About 
one hundred years later we find the Chaldeans in possession 
of the kingdom of Babylon. The first sovereign in the 
new line appearing in history was Nabopolassar. His son 
Nebuchadnezzar invaded Palestine and he was succeeded by 
his son Evil-Merodach. After him came, in 'quick succes¬ 
sion, Neriglissar, Laborosoarchod, and Nabonadius or Bel¬ 
shazzar, under whom this empire was absorbed in the Medo- 
Persian. The Babylonians were the descendants of Shem. 

161 


SUPPLEMENTAL ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Cyrus—Surnamed The Great, was the founder of the 
Persian Empire. He was the son of Cambyses, king of 
Persia, and Mandane, daughter of Astyages, king of the 
Medes. The habits and manners of the two peoples were 
alike, and the general motives of war were, for the most 
part, wanting between them. No doubt there was certain 
dependency—political, and perhaps tributary—of the Per¬ 
sian upon the Median kings. For the purpose of education 
and to learn refinement of manners, young Cyrus was 
placed in charge of his grandfather, Astyages, at the court 
of the Medes. According to a tradition, Astyages was 
alarmed by a dream which portended that the offspring of 
Mandane would become king, or conquer Media, and he 
commanded an officer named Harpagus to kill Cyrus. 
Harpagus promised to obey the order, but privily com¬ 
mitted the boy to the care of a herdsman, who brought 
him up with his own children. Cyrus, having discovered 
the secret of his birth and having inured himself to the 
hardy habits of the warlike Persians, incited the latter to re¬ 
volt against the King of Media. With the encouragement 
and assistance of his father, who was killed during the great 
battle, he defeated Astyages, destroyed his army and took 
him prisoner. The victory was so complete and overwhelm¬ 
ing that his chiefs and generals gathered around him on the 
battlefield and proclaimed him King of Media and Persia . 
During his reign, among the many of his exploits was the 
capture of Babylon in 538 B. C. In 536 B. C. he issued 
that famous edict whereby the Jewish captives who had 
been deported to Babylon were permitted to return to Jeru¬ 
salem and rebuild their temple. 

Herodotus states that Cyrus afterwards invaded the coun¬ 
try of the Scythians, who were ruled by Queen Tomyris, 
and that he gained several victories -over her, but was 
drawn into an ambush and killed in 529 B. C. He was 
succeeded by his son Cambyses. 

162 


SUPPLEMENTAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA 


The kingdoms of Persia, Media and Babylon were con¬ 
nected by royal family ties from the time of Nabopolassar 
to that of Darius, by the marriage of Nebuchadnezzar, 
son of Nabopolassar and King of Babylon, to Amyitis, 
daughter of Astyages, King of Media. Cambyses, King 
of Persia, married Mandane, daughter of Astyages, King 
of Media. Cyrus the Great was the son of King Cambyses 
and Mandane and the grandson of Astyages, King of Media. 
Belshazzar was the son of Nabonadius, King of Babylon, 
and the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar. 

Damascus—A celebrated metropolis of Syria, and now 
probably the oldest city on the globe. It stands on the 
river Barada, in a beautiful and fertile plain on the east 
and southeast of Ante-Lebanon. This plain is about fifty 
miles in circumference; it is open to the desert of Arabia 
on the south and east, and is bounded on the other sides 
by the mountains. It is still celebrated, with the surround¬ 
ing country, by all travelers as one of the most beautiful 
and luxuriant regions in the world. The Orientals them¬ 
selves call it the “Paradise on earth.” It is the most purely 
Oriental city yet remaining of all that are named in the 
Bible. Its public buildings and bazaars are fine; and many 
private dwellings, though outwardly mean, are decorated 
within in a style of the most costly luxury. Its position 
has made it from the very first a commercial city; huge 
caravans assemble here at intervals, and traverse, just as 
of old, the desert routes to remote cities. 

Darius, King of Persia—The successor of Cyrus and 
Cambyses (Ahasuerus) on the throne of Persia, Babylon 
and Media, was the son of Hystaspes, a member of the 
noble family of Achsemenidse. He was one of the seven 
noble Persians who conspired against and killed the usur¬ 
per Smerdis (Artaxerxes), whom he succeeded in 521 B. C. 
He' married two daughters of Cyrus the Great, and organ¬ 
ized the extensive empire which Cyrus and Cambyses had 

163 


SUPPLEMENTAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA 


enlarged by conquest. He preserved the friendly policy of 
his predecessor Cyrus, in reference to the Jews, and con¬ 
firmed the decrees of that monarch, which had been revoked 
during the reign of Artaxerxes, by a new edict. In the 
second year of his reign, Haggai and Zechariah, encouraged 
by this edict, induced their countrymen to resume the work 
of restoring the temple, which was finished four years after¬ 
wards. Darius died in the year 485 B. C. and was suc¬ 
ceeded by his son Xerxes. 

Darius the Median—See Book of Daniel, chaps, v., vi. 

Desert, or Wilderness—The Scriptures, by desert, gen¬ 
erally mean an uncultivated place, a wilderness, or grazing 
tract. Some deserts were actually dry and barren; others 
were beautiful, and had good pastures. David speaks of 
the beauty of the desert (Psa. lxv. 12, 13). 

Desert of Radish — See Wilderness of Paran. 

Desert of Zin — See Wilderness of Paran. 

Dionysus — See Bacchus. 

Edom (Gr,, Idumea )—See Edomites. 

Edomites—They were the descendants of Jacob’s twin 
brother Esau (called Edom), and inhabited a territory 
bounded on the north by Judea and on the west by the 
Mediterranean Sea. It was called Edom, or, in Greek, Idu¬ 
mea. At one time it comprised parts of Judea as far 
north as Hebron, and in Arabia the peninsula of Petraea. 
It was annexed to Judea by David and later by the 
Maccabees. The relations between the Jews and the Edom¬ 
ites were always hostile and full of hatred, even after the 
Jews had received an Edomite dynasty in the son of Herod 
the Great, in whose time the Edomites were, however, 
Jews in religion (Gen. xxxvi.). 

Fatimites—A family of Arabian caliphs, who took their 
name from the fact that they claimed descent from Fatima, 

164 


SUPPLEMENTAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA 


the daughter of the prophet Mohammed. They ruled from 
909 till 1171, chiefly at Cairo, and at the period of their 
widest sway ruled all north Africa, with Syria and Pales¬ 
tine. 

Feasts—The Jews have established several festivals, or 
days of rest and worship, to perpetuate the memory of great 
events wrought in their early history: the Sabbath com¬ 
memorated the creation of the world; the Passover, the 
departure out of Egypt, because, the night before their 
departure, the destroying angel, who slew the first-born 
of the Egyptians, passed over the houses of the Hebrews 
without entering them, they being marked by the blood of 
the lamb; the Pentecost, celebrated the fiftieth day after 
the sixteenth day of Nisan, which was the second day of the 
feast of the Passover. The Hebrews call it the “feast of 
weeks,” because it was kept seven weeks after the Passover. 
It was instituted, first, to oblige the Israelites to repair to 
the temple of the Lord, and there acknowledge his dominion 
over their country and their labors, by offering to Him the 
firstfruits of all their harvests. Secondly, to commemorate, 
and to render thanks to God for the law given from Mount 
Sinai, on the fiftieth day after their coming out of Egypt. 
The Tabernacle was instituted in memory of the forty years’ 
wanderings of the Israelites in the desert, and also as a 
season of gratitude and thanksgiving for the gathering 
in of the harvest; whence it is also called the Feast of the 
Harvest. At the three great feasts of the year, the Pass- 
over, Pentecost, and that of Tabernacles, all the males of 
the nation were required to visit the temple. The other 
festivals were the Feast of Trumpets (or New Moon), Pu- 
rim, Dedication, the Sabbath Year and the Year of Jubilee. 
The Hebrews were a hospitable people, and were wont to 
welcome their guests with a feast and dismiss them with an¬ 
other. The returning prodigal was thus welcomed. Many 
joyful domestic events were observed with feasting—birth¬ 
days, marriages, sheep-shearing and harvesting'. During 


SUPPLEMENTAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA 


the repast and after it various entertainments were provided ; 
enigmas were proposed, eastern tales were told; music and 
hired dancers, and often excessive drinking, etc., occupied 
the time. 

Feast of the Passover—See Feasts. 

Feast of the Pentecost—See Feasts. 

Feast of the Sabbath—See Feasts. 

Feast of the Tabernacle—See Feasts. 

Gedaliah—A son of Ahikam, appointed by Nebuchadnez¬ 
zar to govern Judea after the destruction of Jerusalem. 
Like his father, he honored and befriended Jeremiah. He 
began the administration of his government at Mizpeh with 
wisdom, but in two months was treacherously murdered 
by one Ishmael (Jer. xli.). 

Gibeonites—See Gibeon. 

Gibeon—A city of the Hivites (descendants of Canaan), 
afterwards a Levitical city in the tribe of Benjamin. It 
lay near Geba and Gebeah, and is sometimes wrongly taken 
for Geba. Its Canaanite inhabitants secured a treaty with 
Joshua and the elders of Israel by stratagem, and were 
made hewers of wood for the sanctuary. Here the taber¬ 
nacle was set up for many years. It stood on an eminence, 
six miles north of Jerusalem. The inhabitants were called 
Gibeonites. 

Goshen — See Land of Goshen. 

Haran—An ancient city, called in the New Testament 
Charran, situated in the northwest part of Mesopotamia. 
Here, after leaving Ur, Abraham dwelt till his father Terah 
died; and to this old homestead Isaac sent for a wife, and 
Jacob fled from the wrath of Esau. Haran was rav¬ 
aged by the Assyrians in the time of Hezekiah (713 B. C.). 
Here also Crassus, the Roman general, was defeated and 
killed by the Parthians (53 B. C.). The Parthians were 

166 


SUPPLEMENTAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA 


great horsemen and would seem to have borne no very dis¬ 
tant resemblance to the modern Cossacks. It is said they 
were either refugees or exiles from the Scythian nation. 
Harran, as it is now called, is situated on a branch of the 
Euphrates, in a flat and sandy plain, and is only peopled 
by a few wandering Arabs, v/ho select it for the delicious 
water it furnishes. 

Hebrews—That branch of the posterity of Abraham 
whose home was in the land of promise. The name Hebrew 
is first applied to Abraham in Gen. xv. 13, and is generally 
supposed to have been derived from Heber, the last of the 
long-lived patriarchs. Heber outlived six generations of 
his descendants, including Abraham himself, after whose 
death he was for some years the only surviving ancestor 
of Isaac and Jacob. Hebrews appears to have been the 
name by which the Jewish people was known to foreigners, 
in distinction from their common domestic name, “the chil¬ 
dren of Israel.” The name of Jews, derived from Judah, 
was afterwards applied to them as inhabitants of Judea. 

Hebron—On of the most ancient cities of Canaan, being 
built seven years before Tanis, the capital of Lower Egypt. 
It was anciently called Mamre, and was a favorite residence 
of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Here, too, 
they were buried. Under Joshua and Caleb the Israelites 
conquered it from the Canaanites, and it was afterwards 
made a Levitical city of refuge. It was David’s seat of 
government during the seven years when he reigned over 
Judah only. Here Absalom raised the standard of revolt. 
It was fortified by Rehoboam, the son and successor of 
Solomon. 

At present Hebron is an unwalled city of about 8,000 
inhabitants, of whom some 600 are Jews and the remainder 
Turks and Arabs. It lies in a deep valley and on the ad¬ 
jacent hillside, in the ancient hill country of Judea, about 
twenty miles south of Jerusalem. Its modern name, El- 

167 


SUPPLEMENTAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA 


Khulil, is the same which the Moslems give to Abraham, 
‘‘the friend of God”; and they profess to hold in their 
keeping the burial-place of the patriarchs, the “cave of 
Machpelah.” It is covered by a small mosque surrounded 
by a stone structure 60 feet high, it;o feet wide, and 200 
feet long. Within this no Christian is permitted to enter; 
but it is evidently of very high antiquity, and may well 
be regarded as enclosing the true site of the ancient tomb. 
The environs of the city are very fertile, furnishing the 
finest vineyards in Palestine, numerous plantations of olive 
and other fruit trees and excellent pasturage. 

Horus—The child of Osiris and Isis. He came into the 
world to avenge his father. As a youth he takes the name 
of Buto. Then he becomes the Strong Horus, the great 
helper, the pillar of the world. Horus was the god of light, 
turning the gloom of winter into the verdure and life of 
spring. 

Holy Land—See Canaan (Par. 6). 

Ishmael—See Ishmaelites. 

Ishmaelites—The descendants of Ishmael, the son of 
Abraham and Hagar, who was born in the year 1910 B. C 
Hagar was the Egyptian handmaid of Abraham’s wife 
Sarah. Ishmael was at first regarded as “the son of the 
promise,” but after the birth and weaning of Isaac, he was 
driven from his father’s house, at the age of about seventeen, 
and with his mother took their way towards Egypt, her na¬ 
tive land. Overcome with heat and thirst, and then miracu¬ 
lously relieved (Gen. xxi.), he remained in the wilderness of 
Paran, “and his mother took him a wife out of the land of 
Egypt,” and he became the father of twelve sons, heads of 
Arab tribes. He seems to have become on friendly terms 
with Isaac, and to have attended at the bedside of their dying 
father. At his own death he was 137 years old. The 
Ishmaelites were said in the days of Moses to have dwelt in 

168 


SUPPLEMENTAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA 


the northwestern part of Arabia. Subsequently they, with 
the descendants of Joktan, the fourth son of Shem, and 
Joksham, the son of Abraham by Keturah, occupied the 
.whole peninsula of Arabia. Located near their “brethren” 
the Jews, they have always led a roving, wild and preda¬ 
tory life. To a great degree unchanged, they are to this 
day the w untamed though tributary masters of the desert. 

Jebusites — See Jerusalem. 

Jericho—Once one of the most flourishing cities of Pales¬ 
tine, seven miles westward from the Jordan and eighteen 
miles northeast from Jerusalem. Westward from Jericho 
lies a waste tract of limestone mountains rising in stages; 
but the immediate vicinity is well watered and fruitful, 
yielding dates, raisins, etc.; in early times a favorite abode 
of poisonous snakes. The capture of Jericho by the Israel¬ 
ites on their first entry into Canaan, its destruction and 
the rebuilding of it by Hiel the Bethelite in the reign of 
Ahab, about 918 B. C., are found recorded in Joshua vi.; 
I. Kings xvi. 34. It appears to have been afterwards the seat 
of a school of prophets, and was the residence of Elisha. 
Herod the Great resided in Jericho and beautified it. In 
the time of the Crusades it was repeatedly captured and at 
last completely destroyed. At the present day its place 
is occupied by a miserable village called Richa or Erisha' 
The road from Jericho to Jerusalem ascends through narrow 
and rocky passes amid ravines and precipices. It is an 
exceedingly difficult and dangerous route, and is still in¬ 
fested by robbers, as in the time of the good Samaritan 
(Luke x. 30-34). 

Jerusalem—Its origin and early history are very obscure. 
The Jebusites, who were the descendants of Canaan, were 
the first known occupants of that elevated ground upon 
which rests the city, which they called Jebus, and we know 
that the Jebusites retained possession of the strong position 

169 


SUPPLEMENTAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA 


of the hill of Zion for a considerable time after the conquest 
of Canaan, and even after the storming of Jerusalem, while 
the tribes of Judah and Benjamin occupied the lower city. 
They were finally dispossessed by David. The name of 
Jerusalem is first mentioned in Josh. x. I. It lies upon 
the original border of Judah and Benjamin, the line of 
which runs, through the Valley of Hinnom, so that Zion 
and the northern city lay within the territory of Benjamin. 
Its historical importance dates from the time of David, who 
there fixed his residence, calling it by the name of the 
“City of David,” transporting to it the ark of the covenant. 
The building of the temple under Solomon was the con¬ 
summation of the dignity and holiness of Jerusalem, which 
was further enlarged, strengthened, and beautified by this 
king and his successors. It suffered a diminution of political 
importance through the revolt and secession of the ten 
tribes, from which date its history is identified with that 
of the kingdom of Judah. It was pillaged (971 B. C.) by 
Shishak, King of Egypt; by Joash, King of Israel; and 
finally (588 B. C.) it was taken, after a siege of three years, 
by Nebuchadnezzar, who razed its walls and destroyed 
the temple and palaces by fire. Having been rebuilt after 
the Captivity (536 B. C.), it was again taken and pillaged 
under Ptolemy Lagos (320 B. C.), an Egyptian king, who 
carried thousands away slaves to Egypt. Antiochus IV. 
succeeded to the throne of Syria in 176 B. C. and deliberately 
/began to plan the extinguishment of the Jewish people. He 
sent an army to Jerusalem, which entered on a Sabbath 
day (168 B. C.), made havoc of the inhabitants and leveled 
the city walls. Pompey took the city (63 B. C.), put 12,000 
of the inhabitants to the sword, and razed the walls to the 
ground. A few years later (56 B. C.) it was pillaged by 
Crassus; and from these beginnings date the continued 
series of Roman aggressions, which terminated in the 
complete destruction of the city and dispersion of the Jewish 
race under Vespasian and Titus, A. D. 70. 

170 


SUPPLEMENTAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA. 


Jethro—“Moses’ father-in-law,” a shepherd prince or 
priest of Midian. When the Hebrews were at Mount 
Sinai he visited Moses, gave him some wise counsel as to 
the government of the tribes, and then returned to his own 
people. Jethro was a worshiper of God, and some infer 
that he was a descendant of Abraham through Midian. 

Jones, Inigo—One of the most celebrated of English 
architects and hence called the Vitruvius of England. He 
was born at London July 15, 1573, and died June 21, 1652, 
in the seventy-ninth year of his age. He was successively 
the architect of three kings—James I., Charles I. and 
Charles II., and during his long career superintended the 
erection of many of the most magnificent public and pri¬ 
vate edifices in England, among which was the old church 
of St. Paul’s. He was elected Grand Master under James 
I. in 1607. During his administration several learned 
men were initiated into the Order, and the society con¬ 
siderably increased in consequence and reputation. The 
Communications of the Fraternity were established, and 
the annual festivals regularly observed. 

Joppa—One of the most ancient seaports in the world. 
It was a border town of the tribe of Dan, on the coast of 
the Mediterranean Sea, about thirty-five miles northwest 
of Jerusalem. Here, according to the classical myth, it 
was that Andromeda was chained to the rock, and ex- 
poesd to the sea monster; a story that has been sup¬ 
posed to shadow out in an obscure way, the early in¬ 
tercourse between Greece and Syria. Its harbor is 
shoal and unprotected from the winds; but on ac¬ 
count of its convenience to Jerusalem it became the 
principal port of Judea and is still the great landing- 
place of pilgrims. Here the materials for building both 
the first and the second temple, sent from Lebanon and 
Tyre, were landed. Joppa was twice destroyed by the 
Romans. It attained its highest prosperity in the times 
of the Crusades, when it became the principal land- 

171 


SUPPLEMENTAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA 


ing-place of the warriors of Christendom. In 1799 it was 
stormed and sacked by the French, and twelve hundred 
Turkish prisoners, said to have broken their parole, were 
put to death. The present town of Joppa, sometimes called 
Jaffa, or Yafa, is situated on a promontory jutting out into^ 
the sea, rising to the height of about one hundred and fifty 
feet, crowned with a fortress, and offering on all sides pic¬ 
turesque and varied prospects. The town is walled round 
on the south and east, toward the land, and partially so on- 
the north and west, toward the sea. The inhabitants are 
mostly Turks and Arabs. 

Joseph of Arimathea—A native of Arimathea, but at 
the time of Christ’s crucifixion a resident of Jerusalem. 
He was a member of the Jewish Sanhedrim, and opposed 
in vain their action in condemning the Saviour (Luke xxiii. 
51).. When all was over he “went in boldly unto Pilate, and 1 
craved the body of Jesus.” It was now night and the 
Jewish Sabbath was at hand. He therefore, with the aid 
of Nicodemus, wrapped the body in spices for the time, and 
laid it in his own tomb. 

Kabbalah—The mystical philosophy or theosophy of the 
Jews is called the Kabbalah. The word is derived from 
the Hebrew kabal, signifying to receive, because it is the 
doctrine received from the elders. Practically speaking, the 
doctrine of Kabbalah refers to the system handed down by 
oral transmission, and is nearly allied to tradition. It has 
sometimes been used in an enlarged sense, as comprehending 
all the explanations, maxims and ceremonies which have 
been traditionally handed down to the Jews; but in that 
more limited acceptation in which it is intimately connected 
with the symbolic science of Freemasonry, the Kabbalah 
may be defined to be a system of philosophy which em¬ 
braces certain mystical interpretations of Scripture, and 
metaphysical speculations concerning the Deity, man, and 
spiritual beings. In these interpretations and speculations,, 

172 


SUPPLEMENTAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA 


according to the Jewish doctors, were enveloped the most 
profound truths of religion, which, to be comprehended by 
finite beings, are obliged to be revealed through the medium 
■of symbols and allegories. 

Kadesh-Barnea —See Wilderness of Paran. 

Kingdom of Judah —See Canaan (Par. 5). 

Land of Canaan —See Canaan (Par. 1). 

Land of Chaldeans —See Chaldea. 

Land of Goshen —The land of Goshen appears to have 
been that tract of country in Egypt which was inhabited by 
the Israelites from the time of Jacob to that of Moses. It 
was probably the tract lying east of the Pelusian arm of the 
Nile, toward Arabia. Ramses was the capital of Goshen, 
a city built by the Hebrews during their servitude in Egypt. 
Frorri it they commenced their united exodus from Egypt. 
It is thought to have been on the line of the ancient canal 
from the Nile to the Red Sea, and some thirty-five miles 
northwest of Suez. In this district, or adjacent to it, was 
the city of On, or Heliopolis. The inhabitants of Egypt 
may be considered as including three divisions: the Copts, 
or descendants of the ancient Egyptians; the Fellahs, or 
husbandmen, who are supposed to represent the people in 
Scripture called Phul; the Arabs, or conquerors of the coun¬ 
try, including the Turks, etc. Its early history is involved 
in great obscurity. Their religion consisted in the worship 
of heavenly bodies and the powers of nature. The priests 
were the most honored and powerful of the castes into 
which the people were divided. 

Land of Hebrews —See Canaan (Par. 3). 

Land of Israel —See Canaan (Par. 4). 

Land of Judah —See Canaan (Par. 5). 

Land of Promise —See Canaan (Par. 2). 

Land of Shinar —See Chaldea. 


173 


SUPPLEMENTAL ENCYCLOPEDIA 


Lot—The son of Haran, and nephew of Abraham, fol¬ 
lowed his uncle from Ur, and afterwards from Haran, to 
settle in Canaan. Abraham always had a great affection 
for him, and when they could not continue longer together 
in Canaan, because they both had large flocks and their shep¬ 
herds sometimes quarreled, he gave Lot the choice of his 
abode. Lot chose the plain of Sodom, which appears then 
to have been the most fertile part of the land. Here he. 
continued to dwell until the destruction of Sodom and the 
adjacent cities (Gen. xix.). 

Mesopotamia—The Greek name of the country be¬ 
tween the rivers Euphrates and the Tigris, northwest of 
Babylonia. In Hebrew, “Aram-Naha-raim” (Aram of the 
two rivers), or “Padan-aram” (the plain of Aram), or 
simply Padan (the plain), in distinction from the “Moun¬ 
tains” of Aram. Aram, in Hebrew, is synonymous with 
Syria, a large district of Asia, lying, in the widest accepta¬ 
tion of the name, northeast of Palestine, extending from 
the river Tigris on the east, nearly to the Mediterranean 
on the west, and to the Taurus range on the north. It was 
named after Aram, the son of Shem. Thus defined, it 
includes also Mesopotamia; that is, in Hebrew, Syria of 
the two rivers. Mesopotamia is a region associated with 
the earliest history of the human race both before and after 
the flood. Eden was not far off; Ararat was near to it on 
the north, and the land of Shinar on the south. The traveler 
here reaches what is truly “the old world,” and is sur¬ 
rounded by objects compared with which the antiquities of 
Greece and Rome are modern novelties. This was the home 
of the patriarchs who preceded Abraham—Terah, Heber, 
Peleg, etc. Here Abraham and Sarah were born, and the 
wives of Isaac and Jacob, and most of the sons of Jacob, 
the heads of twelve tribes. Mesopotamia is also mentioned 
in Scripture as the abode of the first oppressor of Israel 
in the times of the judges (Judg. iii. 8-10) ; and in the 
history of the wars of David (II. Sarp. x. 16). 

174 


SUPPLEMENTAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA 


Middle Ages—These are supposed by the best histo¬ 
rians to extend from the year 400 B. C. to the end of the 
fifteenth century, the last important event being the doub¬ 
ling of the Cape of Good Hope in 1497. 

Midianites—An ancient Arabian race, numerous and 
rich in flocks, herds and camels, the descendants of Midian, 
the fourth of the six sons of Abraham by Keturah (Isa. 
lx. 6). They appear to have dwelt mainly to the south of 
Moab, and covered a territory extending to the neighbor¬ 
hood of Mount Sinai. Midianites were idolators, and 
often led Israel astray to worship their gods. They also 
not unfrequently rendered the Hebrews tributary and op¬ 
pressed them. Often when the Israelites had sown, and their 
harvest was nearly ready to be gathered in, the Midianites 
and Amalekites came down like locusts in countless swarms, 
with their cattle and tents and camels to devour and carry 
off the fruits of the ground, and not only rob but destroy 
their owners. And often did the Jews, lacking the strength 
or the faith or the leadership necessary for effectual dist¬ 
ance, seek refuge in mountain dens and caverns till the in¬ 
vaders retired. Gideon was their deliverer in one such 
period of oppression (Judg. vi. 7). The Tawarah Arabs, 
now dwelling in the Sinaitic peninsula, are supposed to be 
their descendants. 

Moabites—They were the descendants of Moab, the 
son of Lot by his eldest daughter (Gen. xix. 37). An idola¬ 
trous people, they were hostile to the Israelites, in spite of 
the relationship between them. The southern boundary of 
the Moabites was the brook Zered, which empties into the 
southeast corner of the Dead Sea. Their territory was 
about twenty miles from east to west, and at one time 
extended as far north (fifty miles) as the mountains of 
Gilead. They were subdued by David, but regained their 
independence after the dismemberment of the Hebrew king¬ 
dom, and disappeared from history after the conquest of 

175 


SUPPLEMENTAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA 


Nebuchadnezzar (604-561 B. C.). The Moabite Stone, 
which celebrates the achievements of one of their kings, 
Masha (about 900 B. C.), is one of the most interesting 
discoveries of modern times. It was found Aug. 19, 1868, 
by the Rev. Mr. Klein, at Dhiban, just north of the Arnon, 
and is now in London. (See Rosetta Stone.) 

Monk—Originally, a man who retired from the world 
for religious meditation and the practice of religious duties 
in solitude; a religious hermit; in later years, a member 
of a community or fraternity of men formed for the prac¬ 
tice of religious devotions and duties, and bound by the 
vows of poverty, celibacy and obedience to a superior; 
specifically, a regular male denizen of a monastery. The 
term monastery strictly includes the abbey, the priory, 
nunnery and the friary, and in this broad sense is syn¬ 
onymous with convent. Communities of a more or less 
monastic character in Palestine and Egypt before the 
diffusion of Christianity were the Essence and Thera- 
peutae. 

Essences were mystics, and most of them were celibates. 
The greater part of them lived by themselves near the north¬ 
west shore of the Dead Sea. The first distinct trace of them 
is about no B. C., and they disappear from history after 
the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. 

Therapeutaes were kindred to, though distinct from, the 
Essences. Their chief seat was on Lake Marcotis in Egypt. 
They were not strictly celibate, but rejected wine and animal 
food. 

The ordinary Christian life of the first three centuries, 
even when not celibate, was largely ascetic and in commu¬ 
nities. Christian monasticism in a definite form originated 
in Upper Egypt in the third or fourth century with St. 
Anthony, an eminent anchorite, who is called its founder. 
The first monks were anchorites; those who lived alone, 
in caves and solitary places in the deserts of Palestine, 
Egypt and Syria, to which, in some cases, they were driven 

176 


SUPPLEMENTAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA 


by persecution. The first monastery was founded by Pach- 
omius on the island of Tabenna in the Nile, about the year 
340; the first nunnery by his sister some eight years later. 
Various developments of the monastic system are to be 
found in the Middle Ages, as the military orders, friars 
(often distinguished from monks proper), etc. Since the 
Reformation, and especially since the French Revolution, 
monachism has declined in Western countries, or has been 
overshadowed by the society of Jesuits (a religious order 
of the Roman Catholic Church), but still continues to 
flourish in Eastern churches. 

Moses—The son of Amram and Jochebed, of the tribe 
of Levi, and the younger brother of Miriam and Aaron, 
was born about 1571 B. C. His history is divided into 
three periods, each of forty years. The first extends from 
his infancy, when he was exposed in the Nile, and found 
and adopted by the daughter of Pharaoh, to his flight to 
Midian. During this time he lived at the Egyptian court, 
and “was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and 
was mighty in words and in deeds” (Acts vii. 22). This 
is no unmeaning praise; the “wisdom” of the Egyptians, 
and especially of their priests, was then the profoundest in 
the world. The second period was from his flight till his 
return to Egypt, during the whole of which interval he 
appears to have lived in Midian—it may be much after the 
manner of the Bedaween sheikhs of the present day. Here 
he married Zipporah, daughter of the wise and pious Jethro, 
and became familiar with life in the desert. What a con¬ 
trast between the former period, spent amid the splendors 
and learning of a court and this lonely nomadic life. Still 
it was in this way that he prepared himself to be the instru¬ 
ment of deliverance to his people during the third period 
of his life, which extends from the exodus out of Egypt to 
his death on Mount Nebo. The life and institutions of 
Moses breathe a spirit of freedom, purity, intelligence, 
justice and humanity elsewhere unknown; and, above all, 

177 


SUPPLEMENTAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA 


of supreme love, honor and obedience to God. They molded 
the character of the Hebrews and transformed them from 
a nation of .shepherds into a people of fixed residence and 
agricultural habits. Through that people, and through the 
Bible, the influence of these institutions has been extended 
over the world; and often where the letter has not been 
observed the spirit of them has been adopted. Thus it was 
in the laws established by the Pilgrim Fathers of New Eng¬ 
land; and no small part of what is of most value in the 
institutions which they founded is to be ascribed to the 
influence of the Hebrew legislator. Moses was the author 
of the Pentateuch, as it is called, or the first five books of 
the Bible. In the composition of them he was probably 
assisted by Aaron, who kept a register of public transactions. 

Mount Sinai —See Sinai. 

Nicodemus—A member of the Jewish Sanhedrim, at 
first a Pharisee (a Jew, but differing in some points of 
doctrine and practice), and afterwards a disciple of Jesus. 
In John vii. 45-52, we see him cautiously defending the 
Saviour before the Sanhedrim. At last, in the trying scene 
of the crucifixion, he avowed himself a believer, and came 
with Joseph of Arimathea to pay the last duties to the body 
of Christ, which they took down from the cross and laid in 
the sepulchre. 

Olympiad—A period of four years reckoned from one 
celebration of the Olympic games to another, by which the 
Greeks computed time from 776 B. C., the reputed first 
year of the first Olympiad. To turn an Olympiad into a 
year B. C., multiply by 4, add the year of the Olympiad 
less 1, and subtract from 780. 

Padan-Aram—See Mesopotamia. 

Pagan (Paganism)—One who worships false gods. A 
name for heathenism, originated among the Christians when 
Christianity gained superiority in the cities and the worship 
of the old Greek and Roman gods was confined to remote 

178 


SUPPLEMENTAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA 


villages (pagi) and the scattered settlers in the country 
(pagani). It is now used as a general term, including all 
polytheistic religions (plurality of gods), in opposition to 
Christianity, Judaism and Mohammedanism; in the Middle 
Ages it also included Mohammedanism. 

Palestine—See Canaan (No. 7). 

Patron—At an early period we find that the Christian 
church adopted the usage of selecting for every trade and 
occupation its own patron saint, who is supposed to have 
taken it under his especial charge. And the selection was 
generally made in reference to some circumstance in the 
life of the saint, which traditionally connected him with 
the profession of which he was appointed the patron. Thus 
St. Crespin, because he was a shoemaker, is the patron 
saint of the “gentle craft,” and St. Dunstan, who was a 
blacksmith, is the patron of blacksmiths. Among the an¬ 
cients every temple, altar, statue or sacred place was dedi¬ 
cated to some divinity. The dedication of a temple was 
always a festival for the people, and was annually com¬ 
memorated. While the pagans dedicated their temples to 
different deities—sometimes to the joint worship of sev¬ 
eral—the monotheistic (one God) Jews dedicated their 
religious edifices to the one supreme Jehovah. There was 
a distinction among the Jews between consecration and 
dedication, for sacred things were both consecrated and 
dedicated. This distinction has also been preserved among 
Christians, many of whom, and, in the early ages, all, con¬ 
secrated their churches to the worship of God, but dedicated 
them to, or placed them under, the especial patronage of 
some particular saint. A similar practice prevails in the 
Masonic institution; and therefore, while we consecrate, 
our Lodges “to the honor of God’s glory,” we dedicate 
them to the patrons of our Order. Tradition informs us 
that Masonic Lodges were originally dedicated to King 
Solomon, because he was our first Most Excellent Grand 


179 


SUPPLEMENTAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA 


Master . In the sixteenth century St. John the Baptist, 
seems to have been considered as the peculiar patron of 
Freemasonry; but subsequently this honor was divided 
between the two Saints John, the Baptist and the Evan¬ 
gelist; and the Modern Lodges, in this country at least, 
are universally erected or consecrated to God, and dedi¬ 
cated to the holy Saints John. 

Pharaoh —The term applied in the Bible to the kings 
of Egypt, of which many explanations have been proposed. 
It seems quite impossible to connect it with the name of any 
Egyptian monarch, and it must have been a common appel¬ 
lation like Khan, Caesar or Czar. 

Phidias —The greatest sculptor of Greece, perhaps of 
all ages and lands. He was born at Athens, 500 B. C. He 
is supposed to have had a long life and to have died from 
poison about 432 B. C. 

Philistines —A people who occupied the southern sea- 
coast of Palestine during most of the period of Biblical 
history, and were almost constantly at war with the Israel¬ 
ites. As they are not mentioned among the occupants of 
the land in the time of Joshua, it is inferred that they were 
later invaders who came from the island of Crete during 
the obscure early period of the Judges. Their race affini¬ 
ties have been much disputed. The genealogical table in 
Genesis x. seems to derive them from Ham, through Miz- 
raim, but many commentators nevertheless consider them a 
Semitic people closely related to the Phoenicians, and not 
distantly connected with the Israelites themselves. The 
Philistines shared the fate of the Israelites in successive sub¬ 
jection to Assyria, Babylon and Egvnt, and disappeared 
altogether from history previous to the Christian era. 

Phoenicia— See Phoenicians. 

Phoenicians —A people who occupied a tract of coun¬ 
try in the north of Palestine, along the shores of the Medi¬ 
terranean, of which Tyre and Sidon were the principal 

180 


SUPPLEMENTAL ENCYCLOPEDIA 


cities. The inhabitants themselves called their country 
Canaan. The history of its people is aphoristic, and in 
many points utterly insufficient. The Phoenicians have left 
no literature and no artistic monuments; a few coins and 
a few inscriptions. They were principally a commercial 
and not an industrial people. They transferred goods with¬ 
out manufacturing them; they spread the arts without in¬ 
venting,them. Nevertheless, Tyre must have been the seat 
of considerable industrial skill and activity, since King 
Hiram could supply Solomon with all kinds of workmen. 
Modern researches confirm the assertions made that the 
language spoken by the Jews and the Phoenicians was 
almost identical; a statement interesting to the Masonic 
student as giving another reason for the bond which ex¬ 
isted between Solomon and Hiram, and between the Jewish 
workmen and their fellow-laborers of Tyre in the con¬ 
struction of the temple. 

Praxiteles—A Greek sculptor, head of the Attic school 
born at Athens about 392 B. C. Praxiteles has been called 
the sculptor of the beautiful, as Phidias was of the sublime. 

Proserpine (Gr., Persephone )—The daughter of Jupiter 
and Ceres, wife of Pluto and queen of the infernal regions. 
She was worshiped generally in connection with her mother, 
as the goddess of vegetation. She was carried off by Pluto, 
the god of Hades, to the lower world, but afterward per¬ 
mitted by him to spend half of the year in the upper world. 

Queen of Sheba—The land of Sheba of Scripture ap¬ 
pears to be the Saba of Strabo, situated towards the south¬ 
ern part of Arabia, at a short distance from the coast of 
the Red Sea, the capital of which was Mareb. This region, 
called also Yemen, was probably settled by Sheba, the son 
of Joktan, of the race of Shem. The Queen of Sheba, who 
visited Solomon and made him presents of gold, ivory and 
costly spices, was probably mistress of this region. The 
tradition of this visit of the Queen of Sheba to Solomon 

181 


SUPPLEMENTAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA 


has maintained itself among the Arabs, who call her Balkis, 
and affirm that she became the wife of Solomon. 

Rabbah (Rehoboth)—A city on the Euphrates, south 
of Carshemish. 

Ramses—See Land of Goshen. 

Religion of Masonry—Webster has given two distinct 
definitions of religion: 

1. Recognition of God as an object of worship, love and 
obedience. 

2. Any system of faith and worship. 

It is plain that in the first sense in which we may take 
the word religion, Masonry may rightfully claim to be called 
a religious institution. No disbeliever in the existence of 
a God can be made a Mason. All practical piety and per¬ 
formance of the duties we owe to God and to our fellow-men 
arise from and are founded on a principle of obedience to 
the divine will. It is idle to say that the Mason does good 
simply in obedience to the statutes of the Order. These 
very statutes owe their sanction to the Masonic idea of the 
nature and perfections of God, which idea has come down 
to us from earliest history of the institution, and the pro¬ 
mulgation of which idea was the very object and design of 
its origin. 

The second definition does not appear to be strictly appli¬ 
cable to Masonry. Masonry has no pretension to assume 
a place among the religions of the world as a sectarian 
“system of faith and worship” in the sense in which we 
distinguish Christianity from Judaism, or Judaism from 
Mohammedanism. In this meaning of the word we do not 
and can not speak of the Masonic religion, nor say of a 
man that he is not a Christian, but a Mason. The tendency 
of all true Masonry is towards religion. Its ancient land¬ 
marks, its sublime ceremonies, its profound symbols and 
allegories—all inculcate religious doctrine, command relig¬ 
ious observance and teach religious truth. 

T«2 


SUPPLEMENTAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA 


Rephidim—An encampment of the Israelites between 
the wilderness of Zin, on the east shore of the Gulf of 
Suez, and Mount Sinai. Here the Amalekites attacked 
them, and were defeated. It is thought to have been in the 
valley now called Esh-Sheikh, a day’s march northwest of 
Sinai, and near the western border of the Horeb group of 
mountains. 

Riblah—A city of Syria, in the country of Hamath, at 
the northeast extremity of Canaan. Its site is probably 
found in the modern village of Rebleh, on the river Orontes, 
at the northern end of the great Valley of Lebanon. 
Through this valley, by way of Hamath and Riblah, was 
the readiest access to Palestine from the north. At Riblah, 
in 609 B. C., King Jehoahaz was taken and deposed by 
Pharaoh-Necho, and carried away captive to Egypt; here 
also Nebuchadnezzar established his headquarters when 
warring against Judah. In 588 B. C. he takes and destroys 
Jerusalem, burns the temple and carries the people, with 
Zedekiah, whose sons he had slain, captive in chains to 
Babylon. This terminated the kingdom of Judah, 468 years 
from the accession of David, 388 years from the revolt of 
the ten tribes, and 134 years from the ruin of the kingdom 
of Israel. 

Rosetta Stone—In 1799, what is known as the Rosetta 
Stone was discovered by some of Napoleon’s men while 
making an excavation at Rosetta, in lower Egypt. The 
stone contained an inscription written in three different 
characters: first, Hieroglyphic ; second, Demotic, or com¬ 
mon character of the Egyptians; third, Greek. From the 
Greek it was discovered that the inscription was tri-lingual; 
that is, each of the writings was a translation of the others. 
In 1822 Champollion deciphered the word Cleopatra from 
an obelisk found at Philas. Afterwards, continuing his 
researches, he completed the translation of the Rosetta 
Stone, thereby opening up the whole field of Egyptian writ¬ 
ings to the long-baffled scholars of the West. 

183 


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Samaritans—They were originally the descendants of 
the ten revolting tribes of Israel who had chosen the city 
of Samaria for their metropolis. Subsequently, the Samar¬ 
itans were conquered by the Assyrians under Shalmane¬ 
ser, who carried the greater part of the inhabitants into 
captivity, and introduced colonists in their place from 
Babylon, Cultah, Ava and Sepharavain. These colo¬ 
nists, who assumed the name of Samaritans, brought 
with them, of course, the idolatrous creed and practices 
of the region from which they emigrated. The Samaritans, 
therefore, at the time of the rebuilding of the second temple, 
were an idolatrous race, and as such abhorrent to the Jews 
(II. Kings xvii. 24-41). 

Sanhedrim—Was a council of seventy senators among 
the Jews, usually with the addition of the high priest as 
president, who determined the most important affairs of 
the nation. It was supposed to have originated after the 
second temple was built, about the year 69 B. C., during 
the cessation of the prophetic office, and in imitation of 
Moses’ council of seventy elders (Num. xi. 16-24). Jews 
in foreign cities appear to have been amenable to this court 
in matters of religion. The right of judging in capital cases 
belonged to it, until this was taken away by the Romans 
a few years before the time of Christ. There appears also 
to have been an inferior tribunal of seven members in every 
town, for the adjudication of less important matters. 

Seljooks, or Seljuks Turks—A small Turkish tribe set¬ 
tled in the plains on the northeastern border of the Caspian 
Sea, who received their name from Seljook, one of their 
chiefs, who in the latter part of the tenth century moved 
in a southeastern direction, conquered Bakjara, and em¬ 
braced Mohammedanism, and under whose successors they 
rapidly grew by absorbing other Turkish-Tartarian tribes, 
and developed a marvelous energy during ttie course of 
several centuries. The only source, however, of this energy 

184 


SUPPLEMENTAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA 


seems to have been religious fanaticism. About the year 
1041 the great Togrol Beg, grandson of Seljook, commenced 
the invasion of Khorassan and other provinces of Persia, 
and in 1061 completed the conquest of the whole of Persia, 
and assumed the title of Sultan. In 1073 Melek Shah, a 
descendant of Seljook, came into power and conquered 
Arabia, Syria and Palestine, Asia Minor and Armenia, and 
ruled from the Mediterranean to the Chinese frontier, and 
from the Caspian to the Arabian Sea. At his death the 
Seljook Empire was divided between his four sons, and 
soon a large number of small, independent sultanates was 
formed, which circumstance finally caused the ruin of the 
Seljook dominion. With the overthrow of the Seljook 
dynasty in 1299, and on the ruins of its dominion, arose the 
Turkish Empire. 

Shechem—A city of central Canaan, thirty-four miles 
north of Jerusalem. It is first mentioned in the history of 
Abraham, who here erected his first altar in Canaan, and 
took possession of the country in the name of the great 
Jehovah. Jacob bought a field in its neighborhood, which, 
by way of overplus, he gave to his son Joseph, who was 
buried there. After the conquest of Canaan it became a 
Levitical city of refuge in Ephraim, and a gathering-place 
of the tribes. Here Rehoboam gave the ten tribes occasion 
to revolt (I. Kings xii.). After the ruin of Samaria by 
Shalmaneser, Shechem became the capital of the Samaritans. 
At the present day it is also the seat of the small remnant 
of the Samaritans. It was called by the Romans Neopolis, 
from which the Arabs have made Napolose or Nabulus 
(John iv.). 

Shiloh—A famous city of Ephraim, about ten miles 
south of Shechem, and twenty-four north of Jerusalem. 
Here Joshua assembled the people to make a second dis¬ 
tribution of the land of promise; and here the tabernacle 
was set up when they were settled in the country. The ark 
and the tabernacle continued at Shiloh from 1444 B. C. to 

185 


SUPPLEMENTAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA 


1116 B. C., when it was taken by the Philistines under the 
administration of the high priest Eli. 

Sidon—Now called Saida. It was a celebrated city 
of Phoenicia, on the Mediterranean Sea, twenty miles north 
of Tyre and as many south of Beyroot. It is one of the 
most ancient cities in the world, and is believed to have 
been founded by Zidon, the eldest son of Canaan. In the 
time of Homer (850 B. C.) the Zidonians were eminent 
for their trade and commerce, their wealth and prosper¬ 
ity, their skill in navigation, astronomy, architecture and 
for their manufactures of glass, etc. They had then a 
commodious harbor, now choked with sand and inacces¬ 
sible to any but the smallest vessels. Upon the division 
of Canaan among the tribes of Joshua, Great Zidon fell 
to the lot of Asher; but that tribe never succeeded in 
obtaining possession. The Zidonians continued long 
under their own government and kings, though some¬ 
times tributary to the kings of Tyre. They were subdued 
successively by the Babylonians, Egyptians and Romans, 
the latter of whom deprived them of their freedom. It 
is at present, like most of the other Turkish towns in 
Syria, dirty and full of ruins, though it still retains a 
little coasting trade, and has about five thousand inhab¬ 
itants. 

Sinai—A mountain, or mountain range, in Arabia 
Petraea in the peninsula formed by the two arms of the 
Red Sea, and rendered memorable as the spot where the 
law was given to Israel through Moses. The upper region 
of Sinai forms an irregular circle of thirty or forty miles 
in diameter, possessing numerous sources of water, a tem¬ 
perate climate and a soil capable of supporting animal and 
vegetable life; for which reason it is the refuge of all the 
Bedaweens when the low country is parched up. This, 
therefore, was the part of the peninsula best adapted to the 
residence of nearly a year, during which the Israelites 
were numbered, and received their laws from the Most 

186 


SUPPLEMENTAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA 


High. In the highest and central part of the region, seven 
thousand feet above the level of the sea, rises the sacred 
summit of Horeb or Sinai. The two names are used almost 
indiscriminately in the Bible. Scripture passages rather 
show that Horeb was the general name for the group, and 
Sinai the name of the sacred summit. 

Symbol—A symbol is defined to be a visible sign with 
which a spiritual feeling, emotion or idea is connected. 
It was in this sense that the early Christians gave the name 
of symbols to all rites, ceremonies and outward forms which 
have a religious meaning; such, for instance, as the cross 
and other pictures and images, and even the sacraments and 
the sacramental elements. At a still earlier period the Egyp¬ 
tians communicated the knowledge of their esoteric phi¬ 
losophy in mystic symbols. “The first learning of the 
world,” says Stukely, “consisted chiefly of symbols. The 
wisdom of the Chaldeans, Phoenicians, Egyptians, Jews, of 
all the ancients that is come to our hand, is symbolic.” 
“Symbolical representations of things sacred,” says Dr. 
Barlow, “were coeval with religion itself as a system of 
doctrine appealing to sense, and have accompanied its 
transmission to ourselves from the earliest known period 
of monumental history.” Egyptian tombs and stiles exhibit 
religious symbols still in use among Christians. Similar 
forms, with corresponding meanings, though under differ¬ 
ent names, are found among the Indians, and are seen on 
the monuments of the Assyrians, the Etruscans and the 
Greeks. The Hebrews borrowed much of their early relig¬ 
ious symbolism from the Egyptians, their later from the 
Babylonians, and through them this symbolic imagery, both 
verbal and objective, has descended to ourselves. 

Syria—In Hebrew, Aram, a large district of Asia, 
lying, in the widest acceptation of the name, between the 
Mediterranean Sea on the west, the Taurus range on the 
north, the Tigris River on the east, and Arabia Deserta and 

187 


SUPPLEMENTAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA 


Palestine, or rather Judea, for the name Syria included 
also the northern part of Palestine, on the south. It was 
named after Aram, the son of Shem. Thus defined, it 
includes also Mesopotamia, which the Hebrews named 
Aram-Naha-raim (Aram of the two rivers—Tigris and 
Euphrates), or Padan-Aram (the plains of Aram or Syria), 
in distinction from the “mountains’’ of Aram. At the time 
of the Jewish exile Syria and Phoenicia were subject to the 
king of Babylon, and they afterwards were tributary to 
the Persian monarchs. Syria is now in the possession of 
the Turks. Its better portions have been thickly populated 
from a very early period, and travelers find traces of nu¬ 
merous cities wholly unknown to history. 

Speculative Masonry—The lectures of the symbolic 
degrees instruct the neophyte in the difference between the 
Operative and the Speculative divisions of Masonry. They 
tell him that “we work in Speculative Masonry, but our 
ancient brethren wrought in both Operative and Specula¬ 
tive.” 

To the Freemason this Operative art has been sym¬ 
bolized in that intellectual deduction from it which has 
been correctly called Speculative Masonry. At one time 
each was an integral part of one undivided system. Op¬ 
erative Masonry was, in the inception of our history, 
and is in some measure even now, the skeleton upon 
which was strung the living muscles and tendons and 
nerves of the Speculative system. It was the block of 
marble, rude and unpolished it may have been, from 
which was sculptured the life-breathing statue. 

Speculative Masonry (which is but another name for 
Freemasonry in its modern acceptation) may be briefly 
defined as the scientific application and the religious 
consecration of the rules and principles, the language, the 
implements and materials of Operative Masonry to the 
veneration of God, the purification of the heart and the incul¬ 
cation of the dogmas of a religious philosophy. 

188 


SUPPLEMENTAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA 


Tadmor—A city founded by Solomon in the Desert 
of Syria, on the borders of the Arabian Desert towards the 
Euphrates. It was remote from human habitations on an 
oasis in the midst of a dreary wilderness; and it is probable 
that Solomon built it to facilitate his commerce with the 
East, as it afforded a supply of water, a thing of utmost 
importance in an Arabian desert. It was about 120 miles 
northeast of Damascus, more than half the distance to the 
Euphrates. The original name was preserved till the time 
of Alexander, who extended his conquest to this city, which 
then exchanged its name Tadmor for that of Palmyra, both 
signifying that it .was a “City of Palms.” It submitted to 
the Romans about the year 130, and continued in alliance 
with them during a period of 150 years. In the third century 
of our era, Odonathus, a native of Palmyra, established an 
independent Palmyrene kingdom, which was further ex¬ 
tended, comprising the whole of Syria and parts of Mesopo¬ 
tamia, and brought to great prosperity by his widow, Queen 
Zenobia. But, when the queen refused to acknowledge the 
authority of Aurelian, the Roman emperor, he defeated her 
army, dissolved her empire, captured her capital and carried 
her away captive to Rome. When the Saracens triumphed 
in the East, they acquired possession of this city and re¬ 
stored its ancient name. It is still called Tadmor. Of the 
time of its lirst ruin there is no authentic record, but Ma¬ 
sonic tradition ascribes it as having been destroyed by the 
Chaldeans and Babylonians about the year 600 B. C. It 
is thought, with some probability, that its last destruction 
occurred during the period in which it was occupied by the 
Saracens. 

Tamarisk—The sacred tree of the Egyptian Mysteries, 
classically called the Erica. An evergreen tree, similar to 
the acacia. 

Temple of Solomon—The foundations of this mag¬ 
nificent edifice were laid by Solomon in the year 1012 B. C., 
about 480 years after the exodus and the building of the 

189 


SUPPLEMENTAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA 


tabernacle; and it was finished 1004 B. C., having occupied 
seven and a half years in the building. It retained its pris¬ 
tine splendor but thirty-three years, when it was plundered 
by Shishak, king of Egypt. After this period it underwent 
sundry profanations and pillages from other foreign rulers, 
and was at length utterly destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, 
king of Babylon, 588 B. C., having stood 424 years. After 
lying in ruins for fifty-two years, the foundations of the 
second temple were laid by Zerubbabel and the Jews who 
had availed themselves of the privilege granted by Cyrus 
and returned to Jerusalem. After various hindrances, it 
was finished and dedicated in 515 B. C., twenty-one years 
after it was begun. In the year 163 B. C. this temple was 
plundered and profaned by Antiochus, who completely sus¬ 
pended the worship of Jehovah. After three years it was 
repaired and purified by Judus Maccabaeus, who restored 
the divine worship and dedicated it anew. 

King Herod, in the first year of his reign, 37 B. C., put 
to death all the Sanhedrim, except two, and after nearly 
twenty years of peace, through remorse of conscience, he 
resolved to rebuild and beautify the temple which at this 
time was in a state of decay. After two years in preparing 
the material for the work, the temple of Zerubbabel was 
pulled down in 17 B. C. and rebuilt in nine and a half 
years, yet a great number of laborers and artificers were 
still employed in carrying on the outbuildings all the time 
of our Saviour’s abode on earth. The temple of Herod 
was considerably larger than that of Zerubbabel, as that of 
Zerubbabel was larger than Solomon’s. All the Jewish 
writers praise this temple exceedingly for its beauty and 
the costliness of its workmanship. The whole structure 
above ground was completely demolished by Roman soldiers 
under Titus, A. D. 70. 

Titan—The father of a race of giants called Titans, who 
contended with Saturn for the sovereignty of heaven, until 
Jupiter cast them by his thunderbolts into Tartarus, the 

190 


SUPPLEMENTAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA 


place of punishment in Hades, or the lower world. The 
Titans, in their wars, are said to have piled mountains upon 
mountains to scale heaven, and they are taken as the types 
of lawlessness, gigantic size and enormous strength. 

Typhon—The rival and opponent of his brother Osiris, 
whom he destroyed. He was considered the author of all 
the evil in the world. As Osiris was a type or symbol of 
the sun, Typhon was the symbol of winter, when the vigor, 
heat, and, as it were, life of the sun are destroyed, and of 
darkness as opposed to light. 

Tyre—The celebrated emporium of Phoenicia, the seat 
of immense wealth and power, situated on the coast of the 
Mediterranean, within the limits of the tribe of Asher as 
assigned by Joshua, though never reduced to subjection. 
There was a close alliance between David and Hiram, king 
of Tyre, which was afterwards continued in the reign of 
Solomon; and it was from the assistance afforded by the 
Tyrians, both in artificers and materials, that the house of 
David, and afterwards the temple, were principally built. 
Tyre possessed the empire of the seas, and drew wealth 
and power from numerous colonies on the shores of the 
Mediterranean and Atlantic. The inhabitants of Tyre were 
filled with pride and luxury, and all the sins attendant on 
prosperity and immense wealth. It was the wealthiest and 
most magnificent of all Phoenician cities, and flourished for 
3,000 years. Although taken and devastated successively 
by Shalmaneser, Nebuchadnezzar, Alexander the Great, the 
Saracens, the Crusaders and Salim I., it was always rebuilt. 
It stood twenty miles south of Sidon, and the locality it 
occupied was as strong in a military point of view as it 
was advantageous in commercial respects. One part of it 
was on the continent and the other on an adjacent island; 
the narrow sound which separated these two parts formed 
its harbor. After conquering the continental part of the 
city, Alexander the Great built a mole to the island by 

191 


SUPPLEMENTAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA 


means of which he succeeded in conquering the insular part, 
too. This mole has in the course of time been transformed 
by alluvial deposits into a peninsula. But otherwise the 
remains which are left of this magnificent city are few and 
utterly insignificant. Its renowned manufactures are en¬ 
tirely dead, its commerce totally gone and a miserable vil¬ 
lage straggles along the site where once stood the richest 
storehouses and the most splendid palaces. 

Ur—The country of Terah, and the birthplace of Abra¬ 
ham. It is usually called “Ur of the Chaldees,” and is 
located, with strong probability, in the northwest part of 
Mesopotamia. The city of Orfah, to which the Jews make 
pilgrimages as the birthplace of Abraham, is a flourishing 
town of 30,000 inhabitants, seventy-eight miles southwest 
of Diarbekir. Some, however, place Ur in Lower Chaldea, 
at extensive ruins now called Warka. 

Venus—The goddess of love, gracefulness, beauty and 
pleasure. Said to have sprung from the sea. 

Wilderness of Paran—A large tract of desert country 
lying south of Palestine, and west of the valley El-Arabah, 
which runs from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Akaba. It 
was in and near this desert region that the Israelites wan¬ 
dered thirty-eight years. It extended on the south to within 
three days’ journey of Sinai, if not to Sinai itself. On the* 
north it included the deserts of Kadesh and Zin. In the 
desert of Kadesh was situated the city of Kadesh-Barnea, 
which was said to lie in the “uttermost border of Edom,” 
and was probably situated very near the great valley of 
El-Arabah, south of the Dead Sea. Kadesh was twice 
visited by the Israelites in their wanderings; once after 
they left Mount Sinai, and again thirty-eight years after. 
At the first visit the mission and return of the twelve spies 
took place, the rebellion of the people, and their presump¬ 
tuous efifort to enter Canaan by the pass Zenhath, imme¬ 
diately north of Kadesh. At their second visit occurred 


192 


SUPPLEMENTAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA 


the death of Miriam, the murmurings of the people for 
water, the miraculous supply, the sin of Aaron and Moses 
in smiting the rock, and the fruitless request for a passage 
through Edom (Num. xx. 1-22). In the desert of Zin, 
Hagar and Ishmael dwelt (Gen. xxi. 14-21). 

Wilderness—See Desert. 

Wren, Sir Christopher—One of the most distinguished 
architects of England, born October 20, 1632; was the son 
of Dr. Wren, dean of Windsor and chaplain in ordinary 
to Charles I.; was distinguished in boyhood for mathemati¬ 
cal and inventive genius; entered Wadham College, Oxford, 
at the age of fourteen. He built many fine buildings and 
churches, but his fame rests chiefly on St. Paul’s Cathedral, 
which he built in 1675-1710. He was elected Grand Master 
of the Masons in 1685, an office he held until after the death 
of Queen Anne (1714), when he was removed by George I. 
He passed the few remaining years of his life in serene re¬ 
tirement. He was found dead in his chair after dinner on 
February 25, 1723, in the ninety-first year of his age, and 
was buried in the crypt of St. Paul’s. 

York—(Lat., Eboracum )—It is the capital of Yorkshire, 
at the confluence of the Ouse and Foss, and is one of the 
oldest and most interesting cities of England. It is sur¬ 
rounded with walls, and generally closely built with narrow 
streets and curious, old-fashioned houses. Its cathedral, 
built from the eleventh to the fourteenth century, is one 
of the finest specimens of Gothic architecture in the world. 
It is built in the form of a cross, 524 feet long, 250 feet 
broad across the transepts, with square, massive tower 225 
feet high, rising over the crossing, and two elegant towers 
iq6 feet hUh, flanking the western front. In the time of 
the Romans, York was the seat of the general government 
for the whole province of Britannia; and here Constantine 
the Great was proclaimed emoeror. In the neriod of the 
Scots and the Danes it offered a fierce resistance to William 


193 


SUPPLEMENTAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA 


the Conqueror, who, after taking it, razed it to the ground. 
It was only partially rebuilt, and suffered much by fire in 
1137. This city is celebrated for its traditional connection 
with Masonry in that kingdom. No topic in the history of 
Freemasonry has so much engaged the attention of modern 
Masonic scholars or given occasion to more discussion than 
the alleged facts of the existence of Masonry in the tenth 
century at the city of York, as the' prominent point of the 
calling of a congregation of the Craft there in 926, of the 
organization of a General Assembly and the adoption of a 
Constitution. “During the whole of the last and the greater 
part of the present century the fraternity in general have 
accepted all of these statements as genuine portions of 
authentic history.” (A. G. Mackey.) 

Ziklag—A city of Judah and Simeon, on the borders 
of the Philistines, who held it until the time of Saul, when 
Achish, king of Gath, gave it to David. Hither many other 
refugees from Judah resorted, and David was thus enabled 
to aid Achish, and to chastise the Amalekites, who had 
sacked Ziglag during his absence. 


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